We are on a down slope of the epidemiological curve. It may or may not be the only down slope as we hear reports of the virus taking hold again in the fall and winter. But while we ride our way down this current downward facing curve, we are seeing calls for returning to normal. I happened upon an article in The Stranger from Kadima member Greggory Scruggs who interviewed some of the protestors in Olympia who came out to show opposition to Gov. Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. I saw the Now This news clip of a hospital worker faceoff with a protestor against Colorado’s stay-at-home order.
And here in Seattle, some are calling for a reopening as well.
I am reminded of the many podcasts I have listened to and conversations I have had that have told me that “zoom is the homeland of the disabled and chronically ill,” as Aurora Levins Morales put it while we zoomed this week about the Rimonim Liturgy Project. I am learning that “normal” has always been relative, and that my normal and the normal of someone with a chronic illness is and has been very, very different.
We put a spoon on the seder plate at Kadima’s virtual Community Seder 2 weeks ago, to honor the and elders and chronically ill “spoonies” in our community. As conversations began popping up immediately after Passover about whether or not High Holidays will be virtual, I instead ask us to slow down. Let us consider what normal was, personally and collectively. Before we rush back into it, or the debate, even, of whether or not we are safe enough from the virus to go back to it, let us reflect: Who are we leaving behind in the rush to “return to normal”? What better reflects the values of our community, and of the world we are working toward?
~Rabbi David
And here in Seattle, some are calling for a reopening as well.
I am reminded of the many podcasts I have listened to and conversations I have had that have told me that “zoom is the homeland of the disabled and chronically ill,” as Aurora Levins Morales put it while we zoomed this week about the Rimonim Liturgy Project. I am learning that “normal” has always been relative, and that my normal and the normal of someone with a chronic illness is and has been very, very different.
We put a spoon on the seder plate at Kadima’s virtual Community Seder 2 weeks ago, to honor the and elders and chronically ill “spoonies” in our community. As conversations began popping up immediately after Passover about whether or not High Holidays will be virtual, I instead ask us to slow down. Let us consider what normal was, personally and collectively. Before we rush back into it, or the debate, even, of whether or not we are safe enough from the virus to go back to it, let us reflect: Who are we leaving behind in the rush to “return to normal”? What better reflects the values of our community, and of the world we are working toward?
~Rabbi David
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