What? There could be myriad items on a referral list, assuming one might use such a list as a keepsake of conversation points. So much to talk about these days. These corona virus, lack of human empathy, warming planet, gender inequality, cruelty to animals, shortage of life supplies, failure of central leadership, social distancing, preservative-laden food, apathetical attitudes about truth, disdain of facts and science ridden days.

Pick one, any one and I’d wager that a few minutes’ discussion would raise the blood pressure of even the most serene and “awoke” person. I don’t consider myself close to membership in that group, but I do some pondering on occasion.

This morning while walking in the neighborhood with my family, I thought: “What if this is the end of days?” And I envisioned the world emptying itself of life, not with bang as a bookend to its beginning, but with a winnowing out, a slow recession back into the cosmic ectoplasm with not so much as a whimper. 

Social distancing is the new rule: Stand at least ten feet away from other humans. Stay in your house. Wash your hands until and even after they crack. Don’t touch your face. Is this the beginning of a long goodbye? 

Or is it a second chance for the world  community to assess its behavior and start acting civil to one another? To realize how fragile our social and emotional infrastructure is and then go to great pains to protect it?

I lived in DC when the post 9/11 quarantine happened. The eerie absence of flying aircraft was unsettling. And no traffic on the streets, and empty shelves in stores. Hoarding food and medical supplies and arming up with guns for self-defense was the norm. As was xenophobic treatment of Muslims.

This time, though, it’s different. We can’t see the “enemy”. We’re waiting at home for a cataclysmic change in society. Anticipating the metaphorical asteroid to crash into the planet and to decimate it entirely. And the response of the vox populi is not united, as was the case in previous crises.

Some hoard, some hide, some disregard what’s happening, some freeze and are haunted by anxiety or worry. Strange times indeed. Lives will be lost, Social structures irretrievably changed. People groaning and pointing at the air in search of someone to blame.

I’ve taken myself physically out of the world at large, given my risk factors for the virus. But I also am vehemently present to my inner self. Hoping for guidance, inspiration and serenity. And contemplating how I can be better for my world community when this crisis goes off of the present’s referral list.