Thanks for joining in on another Grateful Heart Monday where the emphasis is always upon a slice of gratitude from my life, which for today is for how I’ve been handling this Coronavirus and the ever changing landscape it’s bringing to the world around me.
If you watch or read the news lately on a regular basis, it’s easy to get caught up in all the fears surrounding this virus. For me, it’s strangely reminiscent of the events that took place on 9/11/2001 and after, when the media sensationalized so much of it. For months people tuned into the news and became consumed in fear, thinking every single person who looked Muslim was a terrorist and that World War 3 was just around the corner. Sadly, on some level, I was one of them as I was afraid any time a plane flew overhead or the news reported on hearsay about potential future attacks. Watching the news repeatedly display the Twin Towers coming down and the smoking plane wreckages at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA truly gave me PTSD.
But, so much has changed within me since 9/11. Besides the fact that I don’t watch the news like I used to, or really at all these days, my faith has grown and so has my spiritual belief system. That’s why I said recently in another article that I’m not afraid of getting this virus, nor dying from it, because I truly do feel what will be, will be, no matter how many sanitizing measures I take. For a guy like me, who used to flip out in fear over the slightest notion of feeling sick, this is a huge thing to be grateful for, because I don’t feel I’m that hypochondriac like I once was. I’m also just as much grateful I’m not reacting in fear when I’m around others who are sick or appear ill, even when so many others do seem to be reacting like that.
Interestingly enough, I witnessed this last weekend when I dined out with two friends of mine, one of which was having a spell of vertigo. As he lay with his head in his hands, I felt compassion for him while I noticed the tables nearby kept pointing and fearfully whispering to each other that they thought it was “the virus”. It wasn’t though, as I learned my friend has been dealing with this condition for a number of months now, most likely related to some inner ear problem, yet you would have thought he had the bubonic plague the way others were staring at him. On some level, at least with that, it’s probably a good thing that Governor DeWine signed legislation to temporarily close all restaurants for now so that people don’t jump at every cough or sneeze or react when someone looks sick.
And speaking of that, in light of all the restaurants getting closed, my partner and I realized we needed some basic staples because we normally eat out more than not these days and had very little food in the hosue. So, we headed to the store the evening that legislation went into effect and walked through the produce and up and down the rest of the aisles, noticing all the shelves were mostly bare with the majority of staples already gone. But, we just shrugged our shoulders and took the shopping as a positive experience to try new things that the majority of people hadn’t wanted and left behind.
Nonetheless, even with grocery stores being ransacked and everything else getting closed and shuttered, I’ve decided I’m not going to hermit myself in my house and live in fear. I’m also going to keep on hugging and shaking the hands of those who are open to that, mostly because I clearly remember the stories of Jesus and the disciples always being amongst the sick and ailing and never worrying one bit about it, so why should I?
Has my faith grown that much and replaced where fear would have once consumed me with this Coronavirus? I can’t say for sure, but I can say I’m truly thankful for what I’ve learned through the teachings of Christ and other Master Teachers as well, as each have ultimately helped me to not give into all this fear, which is most definitely something to be grateful for on this Grateful Heart Monday.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
