I heard an astonishing fact last week about the effect on our planet of this abrupt halt in human activity – the earth is calmer. Seismologists have detected a strange silence. Seismographs are currently indicating the quieting of the earth’s surface in much of the world. The massive reduction in the everyday hum of humanity, people moving about in cars, trucks, trains and planes, is showing up in seismographic evidence. There is a 20-30% drop in noise. The morning rush across the world is now a morning quiet, enabling scientists to hear even smaller earthquakes.
Similar stories about shifts in nature have come out of this world stoppage. There’s less air pollution in China’s massive cities. The water in the storied canals of Venice have cleared so much you can see fish in the water. No one remembers ever seeing clear water there. Clean air and clear water are always positive news. And though we really need to see people moving about in cars, trucks, trains and planes again, a calmer earth is at least a silver lining in this Covid 19 storm cloud.
I’ve been trying to look through the pain and frustration we all feel and find the positive this crisis has created. I love the humor it brings out in us – like parents wondering who their child’s teacher will be in the fall… and hoping it won’t be them. I love the birthday drive-bys. I love hearing families talk about how much they’re enjoying time they have with their children, how their mornings are no longer rushed. I love how we have seen heroes rise in unlikely places, like the grocery store check-out person. I love that you all donated over 4000 pounds of food this past Sunday to restock the local food pantries. 4000 pounds – that’s 2 TONS! You guys are amazing.
I also love seeing the resiliency in people who have sacrificed more than others, like health care workers. I love reading about businesses that have re-purposed their facilities to make much needed items like hand sanitizer and personal protective equipment for those health care workers. And I love how the High School Class of 2020, #CORONACLASS, is responding to the loss of so much they had looked forward to.
You know they hate what has happened to their senior year; but then you see a video on Facebook of Angleton HS Seniors kicking and tossing a roll of toilet paper from one to another with Florida Georgia Line’s song This Is How We Rollplaying in the background. Well done Cats!
Here’s the thing. We can look for the bad or the good (Full disclosure - I’m talking to myself here too). We can sit and wait for life to start up again, or we can get creative and make the most of the situation we’re in. I like what our own Katelyn Price (KP), a senior and Student Body President at Brazoswood HS, has done. She heard an idea about replacing the outside lights on our homes with colored lights of their community’s school colors. KP took the idea and ran with it, posting it on Facebook and starting a movement. Now there are blue lights for Brazoswood and red lights for Brazosport all around the community.
I love that! And I’d like to see this positive idea grow to honor all our 2020 Senior Classes. Let’s see more blue and red… and purple and maroon lights all over the county.
Live bold, and go buy a new porch light,
Greg
Speaking of lights. There’s a lighted Christmas Tree in my neighborhood. Is that a thing? I heard about a community in another state where people began putting up Christmas lights as a sign of hope. That makes sense to me. If I can’t have baseball season then I’ll take an extra Christmas season. Is anybody with me on this?
