SUNNYSIDE UP MOMENT - MAY 4, 2020

DAY FORTY-NINE OF THE CORONAVIRUS QUARANTINE FOR US AT STACK 'EM HIGH PANCAKES AND SO FORTH

Today is the day.  Beginning this morning and over the course of the next five days Dare County welcomes back non-resident property owners.  Not surprisingly, there have been heated exchanges over this inevitable event.  There have been fierce and often ugly displays of territorialism as well as desperate and dire statements of fear.  And yet, as I write, looking out over the sound, the bridge is still standing amid the swirling winds of concern. 

I believe as fervently as anyone that the voices of the people are the foundation upon which our way of life subsists.  I believe it is essential to our progress that those voices are heard and taken into account.  I believe conflicting opinions are crucial as the coming together of opposite poles are the pillars upon which our democracy stands.  What is easy to forget during the defense of our points of view is that we are human.  And humans are a melting pot of emotion and adrenaline and judgement and bias.  And it’s okay!  It’s in our genes.  It’s biology.  However, we emerged from the cave a long time ago and discovered fire and crossed oceans and split the atom and went to the moon.  Now we must quell our reactionary selves and take a big, deep, collective breath.  Marianne Williamson noted, “The more chaos there is on the outside, the more important it is to find stillness on the inside.  It gives us the power to endure this storm and the power to transform it.”  None of us really knows what comes next, but we can’t mend fences or cross bridges until we are whole ourselves.  In stillness we will find our strength.  In stillness we will find our resolve.  Beyond stillness is our way forward together.