We. Are. All. Essential. Something has been bothering me about this coronavirus, besides the death, besides the sickness, besides the nurses and doctors who are too tired to function well, besides the people at home in situations outside of their control, and besides the employees who are forced to work in situations that may be unsafe for them. And it is this - the messaging that we are receiving. When labels are placed on one group, good or bad, it always affects the non labeled group in some way. In this case, the label I am writing about is the term “essential.” Essential is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “of the utmost importance” and “of, relating to, or constituting essence” and finally “inherent.” I believe, and know it to be true in my bones, that WE ARE ALL ESSENTIAL. Sure, there are certain jobs that are more necessary during this time than others, and the people who are doing these jobs, in my modest and humble opinion, are HEROES. This is not to say, however, that other people are not also performing tasks that make them also fall into the HERO category. Teachers, both those who are completely reformatting what they call a classroom and their modality of teaching, are considered to be, and rightly so, HEROES. Parents, who are unexpectedly at home with their kids and are finding a way to balance the needs of their kids and the needs of themselves, also, during this time, are HEROES. Caregivers, those who are usually in this role, and those who have been unexpectedly cast into it by the current quarantine situation, are HEROES. Students, who are missing their friends, family members, and graduations, are HEROES. Babies, children under the age of 4, and toddlers, who are somehow putting a smile on their parents’ faces during the midst of a crisis, are HEROES. Anyone who is stuck at home by themselves and missing loved ones, who they know it is safer to stay away from at this point in time, is a HERO. Wives who are caring for their husbands and picking up any extra slack for any reason at all, are HEROES. Husbands who are sensitively and supportively caring for their wives are HEROES, too. Anyone who is in any kind of relationship who is caring for another human being is a HERO. And I hope we can all find a way to remember this, and reframe the definitions of WHO is essential into WHAT is essential. It is ESSENTIAL for medical providers to save lives on the front line. It is ESSENTIAL for stores carrying food to get the food to people who need it. It is ESSENTIAL for everyone to have basic human rights provided to them, regardless of whether they were available before, during, and after this virus. And it is ESSENTIAL for all of us to recognize that we are not the only ones on this planet, and that the situations that others find themselves in are vital, they are vital, and that their stories need to be shared. I hope that what comes out of all of this is a growth, starting from the inside of each and every human heart, and moving to the outside of all humanity. For now, however, I just hope that everyone starts thinking of everyone else as essential, and in this way, that our world gets just a little bit smaller. I hope that we can open up our hearts to hear the stories of the other, taking the time that we have to seek and find what is vital, and learning and growing together. And I hope that we take this time to share with all of the members of our human family, instead, the messaging that YOU ARE INHERENT, YOU ARE OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE, and YOU ARE ESSENTIAL.
2 Comments
Jaini
5/9/2020 07:50:12 pm
Beautiful Val. Love the words. Hope you doing ok
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Valerie
5/10/2020 12:30:29 pm
Thanks, Jaini. Love to you, and hope that you are doing really well!
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AuthorValerie Ellis, who is in alignment with the Black Lives Matter Movement and everyone whose life is impacted, now or before, by times of social injustice. Archives
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