We’re living in tough times. The COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging communities across the United States and around the world. Stress, fear and heartbreak abound as many mourn the loss of normal life and of loved ones, and the economic outlook is grim.
People need help, but pride and the world’s brutality discourage us from expressing our needs openly. This creates a vicious cycle: the harsher the world appears, the more heartless we become to one another.
Physical pain reduces a person to a body, to her mortal, fragile, vulnerable flesh. It weakens the sense of self, attenuates one’s powers of logic and speech, language and reason – the bases of civilisation itself. Pain prompts withdrawal: it seems to separate us.
