braveandrecklessblog

While Rome Burns

I am a prolific writer who has enough poetry, fiction, and essays in the archive that I can usually pre-schedule a significant amount of posts so that something goes up almost daily even if I am having a bad fibromyalgia flare-up or my muse is silent. I am currently nearing the end of writing I pre-scheduled in early March and am now mulling over how to proceed for April. It has become more and more challenging to decide what to post on Brave and Reckless. Do I proceed as though the world is not exploding around me, and continue to post old writing in my usual manner? Should I be sharing only humor and light pieces full of hope to try to bring comfort myself and my followers?

As a chronically ill American woman with a chronically ill teenager and a husband over 60, I am, of course, worried about our personal health and safety. I am sure that even most healthy people are quite worried about whether they are doing enough to protect themselves and their loved ones right now. The world has changed dramatically in such a short amount of time and the future feels uncertain and scary. The only thing that feels sure is that we will be feeling the effects of the pandemic personally, socially, and economically for a very long time.

It is as a long-time professional social worker that the coronavirus pandemic is really breaking my heart. The impact Covid-19 is having, and will continue to have, on our homeless, our elderly, our incarcerated, our military, those warehoused in detention centers, our health care workers, and our first responders are almost incalculable.

The federal government of the United State’s response thus far has been, quite frankly, shameful. My grief is matched only by my rage that the wealth and egos of millionaires (and potential campaign donors) is again and again prioritized over human lives, particularly those of poor, brown, black, and immigrant lives. Over the lives of our elderly. Over the lives of the nation’s true heroes who stock grocery shelves, drive ambulances, work 18-hour shifts in war zone emergency rooms, who try to maintain order and safety.

This pandemic has brought out the worst and the best of humanity. I am sure it would be a comfort if I could focus only on the goodness that I am witnessing. But I cannot unsee the injustices happening around us. And quite frankly, I don’t ever want to become someone who can turn a blind eye.

Please bear with me as I try to find to find a way to maintain this blog with compassion, integrity, and balance.

Holding you all in the light.

Christine

Posted in Thought of the DayTagged , , , , , , , 34 Comments

34 thoughts on “While Rome Burns”

  1. I’ve learned that there are two kinds of people, those who pretend nothing is wrong and those who try to deal with reality. I’m with you all the way. Having been part of our blog for some time, the way you send out your prompts, it seems that we should send our poems to you about what’s going on at the moment. About how we feel and what we see. But , of course, that’s just a suggestion. I can’t think of anyone else who could do it. Best to you and yours. ❤

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  3. I feel your pain and frustration. It’s difficult and I agree with this too that going about with our lives like nothing has happened is sort of like turning a blind eye. I do believe that while we should continue to talk and raise our voices against the injustice happening, we need to do what helps our mind, body and soul. Personally, I was getting too bogged down and getting up in the morning was getting hard. Thoughts like what if something happens to my parents who are in another country where I can’t even go right now, was making me paralyzed. I had to separate my thoughts from my body (if that makes sense) just to carry on and so I started posting a Quarantine Diary daily posts. Not ideal but I had to practice social distraction. I hope you stay safe and continue to write because your writing is inspirational for a lot of us! Lots of love, luck and health.

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  4. You speak for all of us in these dark times, Christina. Your post is heartfelt and shows us all how important it is to self-isolate so that the vulnerable do not fall ill. My husband and I are in our upper sixties, so we are very careful. Those with compromised immune systems already battling illness must be considered and protected. My prayers!

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  6. I understand absolutely what you are saying here, and I have been asking myself the same question. What to post? Yesterday I went with humour, thinking that people would prefer to read that rather than be reminded again of what is happening. Yet we cannot ignore what is happening. A difficult question.

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  7. Dear Christine. My heart hurts for you and for all Americans. I am Canadian. I live in Alberta where our provincial government has been laying waste to social programs even in the midst of this pandemic. The arrogance of certain leaders know no bounds. Like you I am having difficulty keeping my focus on the “good” news stories, of which there are many. But I am going to try to see the positives even while we have to address the negatives. It is a very challenging and worrisome time we are all living through. May God help us all.

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  8. Whether a trauma is individual or collective, and whether one is a victim or a witness or a survivor, what has been seen cannot (denial and pretended ignorance not withstanding) be unseen. When those things are not acknowledged, remain unspoken, like so much else in our history, they fester and shape the future for the worse. Let the words flow, the dark and the light. We are more than breath and bone, we are stories.

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  10. Pingback: Call for Submissions – Sharing Our Truths: finding connection through writing and art as we process covid-19 – Brave & Reckless
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  12. I am with you Christine. Both in my feelings of not being sure what to write and my anger and my fear.

    Every week I try and check in on my good friends in the Navy. This is hard. I don’t want to go into details here because it isn’t appropriate, but it is hard.

    Devastating doesn’t describe it.

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  14. These Trying Times

    Brave and reckless
    Forward with strength
    Nothing feckless
    but no restraint
    Fight the good fight
    with what feels right
    to face with grace

    I hope all stays well for you and all you hold dear. Stay safe.

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