By Sarah Haug | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
Since the COVID epidemic when we spent far too many hours isolated in our homes, many people have been spiraling downward into hopelessness. We were physically isolated from our neighbors then, and we are spiritually isolated now — and that is not good for us.
While there is nothing wrong with a good show or entertainment, we spend far too much time with our heads in the digital world instead of the real one.
That’s easier said than done, of course, and not just during a pandemic. But a crisis can also be the perfect time to try.
When my father was diagnosed with liposarcoma in 2007, he learned that 80% of patients with this type of cancer died within five years. Given that news, his first thought was: Where and — more importantly — with whom do I want to spend this time I have left?
His answer, in consultation with my mother, was to move closer to family. They weren’t going to waste a moment of the time he had left.
Sadly, right on schedule, my father’s cancer returned. By the spring of 2011 he was no longer able to play tennis, conserving his energy for visits with his grandchildren. He managed a trip to Scotland with our eldest son as a high school graduation present, and then he died in August of that year.
My father would have been 83 years old this month. I’m saddened that we didn’t get to spend these last 15 years together, but I am incredibly grateful to have had the time we did, as well as the years after with my mother. I had two years with him, and eight more with her.
As I am of a certain age, most of my friends are facing similar situations with their parents. A few may have decades left. For some, the clock is ticking on that “five years.”
The question then, for all of us, as the sun grows brighter on another beautiful spring day, must be the same one my parents asked themselves.
I wish a positive and hopeful answer for everyone.
I pray that one result of our increasing interpersonal isolation might be that we remember we are not locked in our houses anymore and that we can turn to each other.
As the Baha’i Writings say, my hope “is that its morn will fully break, converting the gloom of war, of strife and of wrangling among men into the light of union, of harmony and of affection.”
I hope that no matter what happens in our world, we never feel we have to turn away again.
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