In mid-March, while the general public was being urged to stay six feet apart, a misstep while gardening broke my ankle.  I canceled a sangha meeting, suggesting we meditate at the usual time, wherever we were.  

Just as messages poured in expressing both compassion about the ankle and how good people felt meditating “together,” my county was ordered to shelter in place.  Then a second wave of contacts came in, with several members of my regular sanghas volunteering to set up our meetings on Zoom. 

All these emails, texts and phone calls were a wonderful flurry of mutual support and community kindness.  It felt like a birthday party where  I actually got to talk to every friend one on one, something that’s usually impossible with large in-person gatherings.  The Zoom meetings have also been surprisingly intimate and inclusive. 

All this heartfelt communication has kept me feeling positive as I move one-legged through my days, in the confines of my cozy home.  I’ve learned a lot about new and old friends alike, and they’ve shared with me many uplifting bits of information and stories they’ve gathered from others.

This inter-connectivity reminds me of communities facing a crisis, when strangers help each other without hesitation.  But now we are sharing this sense of connection with people all around the world, and it seems to be supporting so many of us as we all face the crisis created by this global pandemic.

Two of the stories shared with me recently together express beautifully how powerfully this world-wide spirit of concern for each other has lifted my heart.

My friend Fred told me, “I heard that when the virus broke out in China that Japan sent them tons of medical supplies with the boxes marked with an old Chinese poem that read something like, ‘Different mountain, different river, same ocean, same moon.’

“Last week with everything coming back to normal, China sent tons of medical supplies to Italy.  They marked the boxes with an ancient Roman poem that said something like, ‘Many waves, same ocean.’  That’s the spirit that is so beautiful to see.

From Raphaelle I received this poem by Kitty O’Meara: 

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”      

Faster than the virus now, compassion and good will are spreading across the earth.  May you and all beings be well.