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In a single-panel cartoon: a stork, standing in shallow water, has scooped up a Bullfrog headfirst. The bullfrog’s bulky hind legs dangle, straddling the stork’s long beak. But the bullfrog’s arms have strained forward and the bullfrog’s strong fingers have seized the stork by the neck. The caption reads: Don’t EVER Give Up!
This pandemic scooped us up headfirst, catching us off guard, all 7.6 billion of us. Opportunities to reach those most in need were suddenly appallingly limited. The essential jobs of many were made instantly more difficult. News of infection and death rates began washing over us in waves. The pandemic, with its fluid morphology, has been feckless, relentless, mysterious, and has consumed millions of us.
Several years ago, when hyperthyroidism caught me off guard, causing several months of persistent anxiety and insomnia, I would look in the mirror each morning and exhort my reflection: Don’t ever give up! During that time, another four words, paraphrased from Christian scripture, were also helpful: suffering, endurance, character, hope. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us” [Romans 5:3-5]. It is, of course, a formula that pertains to the life of faith. But like all particular truths, this one holds out a larger truth to everyone: Engage your experience mindfully, it is leading you toward hope.
“Don’t ever give up!”, I’ve often exhorted my reflection during this pandemic; “suffering, endurance, character, hope” I remind myself. Then I can take it all in, the whole experience of fear, sorrow, rage, loss, even hopelessness sometimes. It’s helpful, being aware of what I’m experiencing, asking: what makes this experience what it is, rather than something else? Asking this question is how the bullfrog grabs the stork by the neck.
What is your experience of the pandemic? What makes this time what it is rather than something else? How have you suffered, or been a witness to suffering? What resilience have you discovered or developed, to help you endure? Who are you becoming, and is your character surprising to you? When and where has hope broken through the waves of bad news and grim projections?
Hope is the thing that helps us recover health amid a weariness with pandemic fatigue. Emily Dickinson wrote: “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all …*. To put it another way: Hope is the thing with bullfrog fingers – that holds on for dear life – and exhorts the soul: Don’t EVER Give Up!
*“Hope” is the thing with feathers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HJlfNEfXQ