Here we are again, the ordinary passage of days that bring us back to Wednesday. It’s the ordinary things that keep us grounded. Time is the road that goes ever, ever on. It is the moving finger that writes and having writ moves on. Rent/mortgage and utilities and groceries, doing whatever “work” means to you. Floors to be sweep, dished washed, laundry dealt with. Meals to share. Books to read. Games to play. Animals to skritch. People to hug. Ordinary.
And the ordinary-extraordinary things — sunshine to lift the heart, the sound of water or birds singing or music to calm and renew the spirit. The warmth and love of an animal companion. The care, concern, and friendship of fellow humans. Society, community does not exist without that care and concern, that Loving Kindness. Hate can only destroy. Loving Kindness builds — reaches out strong hands to grasp the fallen and helps them up — and they return the favor or pass it forward.
In simpler times community meant coming physically together to help each other — barn raising, corn shucking, quilting bees. Many hands have always made light work. Now “neighbors” may be in different states and the work usually cannot be done without specialized knowledge or equipment. But our hearts and minds need that sense — and that reality — of community that only Loving Kindness builds. We are only strong together, but we are VERY strong together.