The “pop up socially-distanced social” this past weekend was a simple way to show thanks to our amazing volunteers with the Native Health Initiative (NHI). These young men and women have served with the loving service that NHI is known for, not using the pandemic as an excuse.
We offered to pay for food and coffee for whoever made it.
That’s when I had a pandemic moment.
We have all had them, over and over. Things that finish the
sentence, “Only in a pandemic would ____”
For instance, think about pandemic moments from your Valentine’s
weekend.
Virtual parties and cards.
A year without those crappy tasting candy hearts with sappy messages
on them, the ones that sit in the breakroom tempting us to try them even though
we promised ourselves last Valentine’s “never again”.
Ordering takeout in lieu of a nice sit-down dinner and then
having that guts to offer a lame-o excuse like, “Dear, the reason I got the
food to go is that I care so much about your health and safety. Besides, I don’t
think either of us look as attractive wearing masks. Now where are those
plastic eating utensils?”
Man, any other year that sentence would be a relationship-ender,
right? This year, that gets you kudos and a kiss on the cheek for being so (COVID)
considerate and (public health) grounded. It might even be considered (pandemic)
romantic.
Back to coffee.
Eliana is a wonderful medical student. We asked her to help
lead a program of NHI called Healers of Tomorrow. This program, known as HOT,
requires an incredible amount of coordination amongst a team of leaders, and
this year’s team has worked hard to support 50 high school students aspiring to
be health professionals. The HOT leaders spend 20 hours a month coordinating
the monthly seminars, 1 on 1 mentorship and service components of the program. (Remarkably,
NHI operates this program on less than $1000 a year most years. The beauty of
love-grounded activism and our incredible volunteers!)
So, why is Eliana beaming so bright as she walks out of the
coffee shop? I know how nice a small treat can feel when you are in medical
school. Been there.
And I know how nice it is to be able to have live human interaction
after 11 months of virtual living.
But Eliana’s smile was about something else.
“This is the first time I have actually met my HOT team!”
she exclaimed.
I had to think. When we asked Eliana to step up amidst her
medical school duties, it was over zoom, April 2020. Indeed, she had developed
an intense working relationship with people she had never met. This team has
worked so seamlessly together that I had forgotten they had never sat in a room
together, never met over coffee. Their friendships and incredible work had been
built on and in a virtual world.
Maybe you have had similar pandemic moments as Eliana was
had at the coffee shop?
Maybe I was the one having a pandemic moment, being jarred
from my pre-pandemic world where I was always the one imploring our NHI teams
to meet in person, feeling this was the only way to create strong teams.
And as the sun peaked out from behind the clouds, I caught a
glimpse at the beautiful resilience that epitomizes all of us over this last
year.
We have found new ways to be.
We have found new ways to serve.
We have found new ways to love.
Happy (belated) Valentine’s. Next year, I promise to tell
you this in person with a hand-made card with a few of those crappy candy
hearts taped to the front.
As we've replaced so many face-to-face care visits with telephone visits, I've learned to attend more carefully to the words and the tone that people use when speaking with me, just as I've learned to do the same when I'm speaking with them. We have no way to read people by their facial expressions or body language during such visits, so the power of words is the only source of the power of presence. As you suggest, "only in a pandemic"! Blessings...JR.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of how it's going to feel like when things get to whatever the post pandemic normal looks like. The truth is that I have no clue, but I do have some hopes! Like John mentioned in his comment, I've learned to listen more attentively to folks over Zoom, I hope I continue to practice this. I've found that connections that I've made virtually can be strong and profound as long as I am open to them, I hope I don't forget that. I also hope I never take an opportunity to make a face to face connection with somebody for granted because I'll remember a time where meeting someone in person wasn't possible.
ReplyDeleteAs always, thank you for sharing!!