Stillness is Death

    Vaccinations for folks 60+ have reached over 98% here in town, and so places are opening with no restrictions.  People 12 and over are getting their shots.  Compliance with the perceived duty to vaccinate appears strong here in the area, so we are all feeling more comfortable with social events and shopping.  Some reason-based holdouts are being tolerated - others ridiculed for buying into the all-too-common stories being created from thin air.

    Interestingly, spending the last 15 months without any real desire (or need) for more stuff has many (including us) with no desire to fulfill what is apparently a base desire for acquisition.  Whether the desire is nature or nuture is, for me, still an interesting debate.  Regardless, the desire to be part of mindless capitalism has left me.  It gave, after all, a hollow and short-lived thrill, even when I gleefully participated.  So, we are gathering again, as couples and small groups of friends and family to share stories of uncertain futures amid the hopes for normalcy.  Group bike rides are now eagerly planned.  Concerts are nervously anticipated.  

    The take away is cloudy for me.  Is there a lesson here to be expanded upon?  Is there always a lesson or do we always try to fit the complexity of reality into a story we can use to feel safe?  Maybe there is no parable to be created, but one thing stands out:  movement.  Movement seems important, seems basic, a requirement for affirming that we are alive.  The stillness of the last year has taken some of that away, even while there was the space to rediscover who we are, and how we want to be.  So, movement is the lesson, perhaps.  Stillness is death.