If you’re at all like me, it’s difficult sometimes to take a break from the constant barrage of Coronavirus news,  news of police brutality, widespread racism, Black Lives Matter, climate change, and other issues.  Don’t get me wrong – these are realities that we have to face and confront and deal with, each in our own way and collectively as members of the human race.

The Coronavirus is deadly and so is the virus of hate.  We aren’t talking “survival of the fittest” these days. We all want to survive, both the fit and unfit, the old and the young, the black and the white and those in-between.  We want to survive with our bodies, minds, and spirits intact.

There are many angry and disappointed people around these days.  The protests in the U.S. and other parts of the world over the brutal death of George Floyd show that the collective consciousness is growing stronger.  What we were silent about before strikes a chord within us now.  We want change.

We have a right to feel incensed and bitter.  We also have to keep hope and courage alive for the challenges ahead.  To temper this feeling, here are some quotations and poetry that may serve to inspire hope in all of us.  Maybe you don’t feel incensed and bitter –  hope you enjoy anyways and they bring more joy to your heart.

 

 

 

You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is all going.  What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. ~ Thomas Merton

There’s nothing “ordinary” about decency courage under fire, compassion, tenacity, lion-heartededness, and that is what is being called forth in a moment   – a deeply mythic moment – like this. ~ Dr. Martin Shaw

“Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great.  It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.” ~ Rita Dove

“In a time of destruction, create something:  a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment. ~ Maxine Hong Kingston

Deep trust in life is not a feeling but a stance that you deliberately take.  It is the attitude we call courage. ~ Br. David Steindl-Rast

 

Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity…it is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.” ~ Common Prayer:  A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. ~ Arthur Ashe

“If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. ” ~ Howard Zinn

“It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.  Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.”  ~ Black Elk

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Only when we’re brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ~ Brene Brown

“Not only is another world possible, she is on her way.  On a quiet day I can hear her breathing.” ~ Arundathi Roy

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. ~ Lin Yutang

“The virus isn’t happening to us; it’s happening for us.” ~ Jack Kornfield”

 

We have to begin to do what’s unnatural – that is, to give in the midst of crisis, when everyone is feeling lack and poverty; to love when everyone is angry and judging others; to demonstrate courage and peace when everyone else is in fear; to show kindness when others are displaying hostility and aggression; to surrender to possibility when the rest of the world is aggressively pushing to be first, trying to control outcomes, and fiercely competing in an endless drive to get to the top; to knowingly smile in the face of adversity; and to cultivate the feeling of wholeness when we’re diagnosed as sick.”  ~ Joe Dispenza

“It took a modern pandemic to infect the collective attention of the world to remind us of our shared vulnerability and to restore humanity and kindness.” ― Farshad Asl

“The COVID-19 pandemic is Life’s way of slowing us all down. So, let us take a reflective pause and focus on taking care of ourselves and each other! As it is with most inscrutable situations in Life, there is no other way to deal with this crisis, going with the flow is THE way…!” ― AVIS Viswanathan