The coronavirus crisis we are going through right now is not only affecting you, it is affecting all of us.

This invisible enemy that has brought our world to a halt and made us look at everything through the lenses of fear can only be beaten by working together to flatten the curve.

The following story I read, is a great reminder for each of us. Learn to work together for a common goal.  Enjoy!

Heaven and Hell –The Difference

“A man spoke to the Lord about Heaven and Hell.  The Lord said to the man, Come, I will show you hell.

They entered a room where a group of people sat around the huge pot of stew.  Everyone was famished, desperate and starving.

Each person held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arms that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths.  The suffering was terrible.

Come, now I will show you heaven, the Lord said.  They entered another room, identical to the first — the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons.  But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

I don’t understand, said the man.  Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?

The Lord smiled.  Ah, it is simple, he said, Here, they have learned to feed each other.”

Story from: Ann Launders, Chicken Soup for the Heart & Soul, Heaven and Hell –The Difference. 1994

The more we work to feed each other metaphorically, the closer we are to regaining the world we all grieve, miss and now appreciate so much more.

My family and I both extend our spoon to yours in the effort and hope that each day that passes, it is a day closer to us being able to hug and kiss again.  If we learn to feed each other, we can be a day closer to celebrating in-person weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, holidays, concerts and sporting events.  We can be a day closer to being able to attend services, our kids can go back to school and be with their friends and have in-person relationships.

With Passover around the corner, I will reminisce about the noise of my nieces and nephews running around the house laughing with my girls from pure joy. I will reminisce about the family pictures we take around the table that literally look identical every year and the conversations we all delight to share.

This year will be different. We will be connected but definitely apart.  While I’m grateful for this Zoom technology, nothing can or will ever replace being able to physically embrace.

We, humans, thrive when we are in a pack and as such, this coronavirus thrives by using our need for connection against us to proliferate. So how do we overcome this crisis? By starving the virus of what it needs —don’t feed it. Social distancing, as painful as it is, it is our quickest antidote, right now, to regain the life we had.

Let’s work together to reclaim what’s ours – our right to gather and love freely.  Our right to not have to put our relationships on hold.  Right now six feet of separation is the difference between Heaven and Hell.

With Gratitude,