You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude

Eleanor Roosevelt

So many aspects of our daily lives have been turned upside down during this pandemic. How easy it would be to give up hope or cave in to negativity as mounting challenges begin to resurface as the coronavirus gains momentum in communities around our country.

But we do have choice in how we wish to interpret the circumstances we find ourselves in as well as how we perceive the measures that we need to take to keep both ourselves and others safe. An unpleasant encounter last week with an anti-masker brought this home to me in a way that was both surprising and disturbing.

Leaving my local grocery store, I was accosted by a gentleman who began taunting me for wearing a mask. Moving too close into my personal space while making rude derisive comments, brought a realistic look at how this pandemic has the potential to both divide people and to unite them. After some reflection following this incident, it seems obvious that without consistent leadership from both public health officials as well as politicians, this fractious situation is likely to continue.

One can only imagine what might have happened if at the beginning of this pandemic every global leader had made the choice to implement universal strategies to prevent the virus from spreading around the world. At the same time! One can imagine that we may have had to endure only a few weeks in isolation and the virus may not have been able to gain such a strong foothold and could have burned itself out.

Perhaps that is just fanciful and wishful thinking. But we do have the ability to choose to care and respect everyone around us by following known measures to contain and control the virus. Our public health leaders are suggesting that at this time, we still have the ability to mobilize and contribute to a reduction in the spread of COVID-19.

If only we are able to merge our collective attitudes about our circumstances and collaborate with each other to achieve good health. Following several simple guidelines, which includes wearing a mask to protect others, does seem to assist society in achieving the desired outcomes.

We can turn our lives upside down again or we can share responsibility to cooperate and work to keep all in our communities healthy and safe. Seems like it should be a simple decision, doesn’t it.