“Wisdom from the Pulpit” in the Dec. 31 paper gave me food for thought as we commence another year in which there is the opportunity to risk our wonderful lives by refocusing our minds and souls beneath and beyond COVID.
We need to turn the page and follow Churchill’s advice in the face of a second World War, “Keep calm and carry on.” Fear, indicated by masking, is unhealthy physically and emotionally for all by affects the immune system, our very own personal protection from disease and stress. It is designed as a short term response to immediate danger.
Brought up under the Church of England, I married into a Quaker family and found their practice of simplicity, sincerity and service very much to my liking in a country that was more materialistic than post-war Europe. That is until meetinghouses followed the rules and succumbed to distancing, masking and Zoom, contrary to Quaker practice as I experienced it.
Baffled by the inability to live freely, I stumbled unknowingly on Paganism as I wandered lonely as a cloud in the woods and fields of this bountiful part of the world. “Because Nature, in and of itself, is whole it includes the sacred and it includes humans.” In other words, the ever-changing known and unknown that is abundant for all.
May I humbly suggest that instead of “staying safe.” it could be wise (against selected advice from science) to take a risk as you let go of fear and let good (nature) prevail. She is doing the right thing for the survival of all life on this planet.
Melissa Perot
South Deerfield