I cannot remember a time in my life when so many people I know got sick, are sick, or are still recovering from an illness. I don’t think I’ve prayed so hard, for so many people – who somehow got sick all at the same time.
Last March, for the first time, my husband and I and our two helpers got Covid. Our driver was spared, thank God. Maybe because he’s an able-bodied athlete on top of being our family driver.
It was a harrowing experience for all of us. Amazingly, our 75-year-old manang and I got sick for only four days or so. But my husband and our male helper (only in his 30s) were hit pretty badly.
They say you really don’t know how mildly or how badly Covid will hit you – until you get it yourself.
We thought we had “escaped Covid” since we managed to dodge it for three years. But it was not to be. My husband finally caught it when he started going to the office daily. The rest is history. I was so downcast, tired and strung out from taking care of three sick people at home while I was sick myself.
In the midst of our health crisis, a cheerful word saved the day for me. A dear friend, in a message thread, told me: “Congratulations, Cata! You’re now protected by God-given antibodies that are more powerful than any vaccine!” Amazing grace. Amazing friend. What an amazing thing to say.
You know what – that simple comment just flooded me with so much strength, courage and hope. By saying that, my friend reminded me of the most crucial thing: that, yes, God saw us through Covid! And, indeed, it made us stronger, somehow!
This made me think of how common it was during the pandemic that our message/text threads often carried stories of how a classmate died from Covid. How a colleague succumbed to a heart attack or cancer or surgical complications in the middle of the pandemic. How someone was desperately looking for connections to hospitals because they needed a bed in the ICU for a loved one. How a friend’s brother died because he couldn’t get dialysis – the hospitals they went to were at full capacity.
Remember when patients were getting their IVs set up while lying in their cars, parked on hospital grounds? Apocalyptic but true.
So here are some suggestions for all of those who are in constant touch with family, friends and colleagues. It’s meant to make us more sensitive to the plight of others.
When you know that someone in your CLOSED group (in Viber, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.) is seriously ill, or going through a severe crisis, I think it’s only decent not to share anything that’s frivolous – like your party and travel photos, the buffet you’re currently enjoying, the air purifier you just bought. Unless requested by your beleaguered friend.
Otherwise it’s like rubbing salt into someone else’s wounds. While some of us may be sadly dysfunctional and incapable of real compassion, we must train ourselves to be sensitive to the feelings of those who are undergoing trials.
Our partylogues and travelogues and shopping reports can wait another day – when things aren’t going so badly for our friends, don’t you think?
Love is also being sensitive to what others are going through.
If we cannot put a lid on our excitement and praise reports, then let’s just have the decency to find another forum where we won’t make others feel even sorrier for themselves. Let’s give one another this simple courtesy.
Let’s not over-spiritualize things either, by saying that Christians shouldn’t feel depressed or discouraged or distressed. If we’re honest about it, we will admit that we all have good days and bad days. Even the celebrity prophet, Elijah, got scared, ran away, was depressed, frustrated, and wanted to die.
Remember – next time, the person who’s seriously sick, or incapacitated, or deeply troubled by a life crisis, might be you.
