Two Keywords During This Pandemic

I ran across this poster in my file this morning. It's simple but says so much. One thing we all need during this pandemic is patience. It's one of my keywords for writers, but right now, it's key for all of us faced with the many changes in our lives due to the pandemic we are experiencing nationwide, and across the world.

I started thinking about another keyword, and that is sacrifice. It's something the people in today's world have not had to do as a nation. People old enough to have lived through the Depression and WWII did sacrifice a great deal, and if you visit with any of them, they have never forgotten what it was like. I was a child during WWII, but I do remember rationing, people who had cars but could not buy new tires, so they sat idle at the curbside or in a garage, and women using leg paint to look like they were wearing nylon stockings. There were many more things that people sacrificed that I was not aware of at that time of my life. 

Now, here we are in the center of a pandemic and being asked by our governments--local, state, and federal--to change our entire way of life. Schools and churches are closing for various amounts of time. My state of Kansas has closed K-12 schools through the end of the school year. We are the first state to do so. It was indicated there would be some kind of educational thing via the internet, but all is so new, they have to figure that out. Proms and graduations are cancelled. Heartbreaking for teens and college students but a sacrifice to be made. Many adults are working from home and becoming a burden on the internet. Many are no longer working, one of the biggest sacrifices and not chosen by anyone.

For a writing exercise today, do a freewrite on the word sacrifice. Freewrite exercises release a lot that is dwelling within us. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write the word, then start writing anything that it brings to mind. Don't stop until the timer goes off. (Keep going if you still have more to say.) Don't worry about spelling, punctuation etc. Let the words flow from mind to fingertips. I think it is possible that you will come up with the bones for an essay, even a poem, about these days we're living through right now. 

If you have the time and the inspiration, go ahead and do another freewrite exercise on the word patience, which is something that we need to have right now. 

You do NOT need to be a writer to do this exercise. Anyone can do it. 

When all this begins to get you down, take a look at this poster again. It may seem like a Pollyanna kind of outlook, but hope is something we all need right now.