REACH OUT AND . . .

posted by Etta Worthington

Reach out and touch someone.

Do you remember the song? Diana Ross recorded it first, and it was released April 1970.

Reach out and touch
Somebody's hand
Make this world a better place
If you can
Reach out and touch
Somebody's hand
Make this world a better place
If you can

The song got extra use in this AT&T commercial from 1987.

Maybe that’s a bit sappy, but now’s the time to think about how you can connect to people.

How long ago was it that social distancing became a part of our vocabulary? And our reality. In the days of COVID-19. This isn't a pleasant reality.

Some of us are retired and depended on going to the library, the YMCA, church or synagogue, the ______ (you fill in the blank) for connections with others. And that’s not available right now.

Some of us got regular connections with people through work. But now we are working at home.

Some of us have been working at home for a long time. And now we feel even more isolated. There’s work to do and no place to get a break from home, other than going to the grocery store. But how safe is that?

Some of us are at home. And so are the kids (and they may be driving us crazy).

But we can still reach out and touch somebody.  Yes, I’m talking about the phone. Don’t text. Don’t email. Actually call someone. See how they are doing.  Talk about how you are. Share some memories. Just connect.

That’s part of the way we are going to get through this. I think we’re going to be pretty homebound for more than two weeks. It may be a few months.  So we have to figure out ways to maintain our health and sanity.

Check in with people who live on your block or in you condo or apartment building. Are there sick or elderly folks who may need help?  Or how about the kids, who are out of school without activities.

I know that on St. Patrick’s Day, folks in Oak Park, and folks in Forest Park were encouraged to tape shamrocks in their windows.  And then parents could take children on a shamrock hunt to see how many they could find.

We will need to do more of that kind of thing before life gets back to some kind of normal.

So I got my list of people I’m going to call today.  I’ve already made one call.

And I’m going to write a blog post every day, about how we can get through this together. As we are separate.

Please subscribe to the blog. Share the blog with others. And email me at westernfrontindivisible@gmail.com with ideas to include in the blog. Or if you would like to submit a blog post you write, even better.

So, that’s it for today. I have reached out. Now it’s your turn.