As I contemplated what to write for this edition of perspectives, my mind kept returning to the recent day when my son returned from his freshman year of college several months early. I came home from work that evening and there he was in the kitchen. Cooking dinner! Lemon pepper baked fish.
Now this is a big deal. Unlike my 15-year-old son who readily fries himself bacon in the middle of the night, and cooks hamburgers on the frying pan for a snack, my eldest does not necessarily find himself comfortable in the kitchen.
While we sat down to eat, I made the gallows humor that we are truly in end times.
Indeed, what has really struck me since then is how many of us are taking this time to discover new things about ourselves. Whether it be cooking, running, learning to crochet, or reacquainting ourselves with our loved ones. The entire nation is on pause.
But as I state that, I realized what a privileged position that is. While many of us are on pause, health workers are in the hospitals on the front line. Many citizens are going forward with reduced or no income. And while many states have issued stay at home orders, the state of countless American citizens without a home has become more pronounced.
So as we find ways to cope, ways to pass the time as it were, I’d argue that we should simultaneously be thankful for what we have while preparing to be generous in all our interactions moving forward. I have said this to my colleagues, and I will repeat it here: in all things, let’s proceed with grace and graciousness.
I’m Michael Perry, and that is my perspective.
