Kaddish
This is a very sad commentary, so forgive me.
During this past week, four people who were close to us died — two from Covid-19.
And now as a blog writer, it makes me pause. I’ve been writing about shopping, paper towels, running, social distancing and the changes we are going through together, while the scary numbers show up on the right side of CNN, like an election night scoreboard.
But no numbers — no matter how staggering — can have the impact of the loss of Charles Balas, Brad Harris, Gary Wilson, and Bill Doyle. All people who had significant impacts on our lives.
And there were others in the next sphere, parents and siblings of friends, people close to our siblings and friends. Because of the virus, they had no funerals for their loved ones and scant few mourners to console them.
And while there will be other times to eulogize them, their deaths have a staggering way of bringing everything else down to this: people we know and love are dying, and dying at a rate we can’t really fathom nor mourn properly.
I also realize that this is just the beginning. We will all be shocked and saddened by the continuous news. Who’s next?
Writing this blog is cathartic. It’s through the keyboard that I can begin to process these losses even if I can’t process the speed by which they pile on.
It is somewhat trite to say that this is the “new normal.” Those who passed will not have the opportunity to experience this newness and those they left behind will be forever changed no matter what the trajectory of this pandemic is. I am sure that will be true for all of us.
Tomorrow, I promise I’ll be back with more about life in these times. But, for now, it’s a pause to remember what is truly at issue beyond shopping, and 6-feet separations, and Trump and masks — all important in their places and all good fodder for our dialogue.
“Kaddish” is sometimes referred to as a prayer for the dead. But it is actually a prayer praising God — however one perceives God — and the blessing of life.
Reciting it — the source of The Lord’s Prayer in Christianity — enables us, as the greater and united community of humankind, to pause and appreciate our lives and yes, remember those who came before us in our hearts.
May the One who creates harmony on high, bring peace to us and let us say: Amen — Kaddish.
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The following is the Mindful Meditation for loving kindness. I would recommend it. It is appropriate for this post and these times.
Here is Avinu Malkeinu by Barbra Streisand, just because.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rjYV9NUy40
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