Healing in progress, please stay on trail
Greetings at this momentous time in US history: the day after former Vice President Joe Biden was declared our US President-elect with Kamala Harris as Vice President-elect. After I heard the announcement, I danced around our living room. Joy and hope for a better future swept through me.
This morning when I found this poignant photo of prickly little cactus plants with a sign reading: “Healing in progress, please stay on trail,” it struck me as the perfect metaphor for our nation’s current situation. We are prickly citizens suffering from four years of divisive and destructive rhetoric (among other hurtful stuff) spawned by the White House and spread around the country.
Now is a time of change. We’re lucky to have it. Now is a time to stay on a better trail if we want to recover.
What’s the trail?
In our case, what’s the trail? For a start, we the people have rejected divisiveness, hate speech, bigotry, and lying. We have chosen hope, healing—including respect for science—decency, justice, and healthful changes for our country resulting from those values.
No matter who you voted for, as Biden reminded us in his speech last night, he is committed to serving all of us. Let’s try and be the most positive, industrious, helpful, and clear-minded citizens deserving of such a cogent, forthright, and experienced leader.
First, clean the wound – MASK-UP
We all know our nation suffers from many gaping wounds. A first practical step in healing any wound is to first clean it. Which wound do we start with?
I say mask-up to help heal the physical wound throbbing all over the world. Deter the spread of the terrible COVID-19 pandemic with a little mask! It’s shameful that people are fighting over this. What’s so hard? We are in a dire emergency, as if a roaring fire is in our face. We have a water hose in our hand, so point it at the fire!
My father (may he rest in peace) was a microbiologist who worked in public health. I wrote about him and why public health mattered to him. Read here. He’s whispering in my ear right now, urging me to repeat, “Please, just put on a mask when you’re around others. It’s the right thing to do. You will save lives.”
A healing environment
How do you heal a nation? I know that Biden, Harris, and others who will join them to lead us, have some good ideas. Going with the healing metaphor, I would think we’d first need an appropriate environment where healing can take place: an ointment of calm and lower temperatures, a bandage of thoughtfulness protecting us from any urges to spout off and cause more suffering, a listening-space conducive for civil discourse and respect for others. Wouldn’t these things help protect the wound of divisiveness while it heals?
What do you think?
Go with the metaphor
Here, take this healing-a-wound metaphor and see where your thoughts go in this context.
Oh, just one more thing: I promise I’ll do my best to be a part of the healing, not part of the wound. I trust that you will, too.
Thanks for reading.
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Peggy Lantz
Very nice piece.
kATHLEEN REICH
Charlene, you said it better than I could have.
Nylda Dieppa
I am also celebrating the chance to heal our nation! Sadly our wound is so deep and badly infected that it needs debridement. That’s the medical term for scraping away the dead tissue and infected junk, causing horrible pain, but making true healing possible. It is probable that we will have to go through an extremely painful process in order to forgive each other, respectfully listen to everyone’s pain, accept the need to compromise, and stand behind our agreements with each other. It will likely take more than four years. And lots of true courage and commitment.
Steve
Thanks Charlene for your insight and vision. The work ahead of us is important. It is vital. Achieving the goal will take persistent, consistent insight and vision conveyed publicly in widely varied artistic endeavors. I’m grateful for the art you engage in, with words.
I’m confident we got the right candidate and elected him. I’m optimistic about his vision and insight. The healing may take a while. Then again, progress probably won’t take very long to become apparent.
Again, thank you for your insight and vision. <3
Laraine Memola
Cheers!!! God Bless America!! Healing has begun!!
Charlene Edge
I send a big thank you to all those who are reading this and for the encouraging comments some of you have left.
Kathleen Brandt
We’re cheering over here in Europe, too!
Sadly, I fear that Nylda is right: the wound is infected and things may get worse — or seem to — before they get better. But having such a decent, caring, competent couple of people as POTUS and VPOTUS is such a huge start. This is a wonderful day. Thanks for your timely post, Charlene.
Charlene L. Edge
I sure appreciate your support from across the pond!