Week #20: The Blessing of a New Day

Last summer when all regular activities stopped, it was unclear when – or if- things would get back to “normal.” For months, events like weddings and bar mitzvah parties were postponed for a few months as a precaution due to the pandemic but when those few months passed, the events were pushed off either further, or done on a much smaller scale.

At that time, there was much speculation about what we can learn from this pause in our lives – would we re-evaluate how we were spending our time or would we automatically go back to running around overscheduled? Would we come out of it kinder and more generous?

Now that more and more people are getting vaccinated and the world is opening back up in many places, it seems like we may have hit reboot on our lives and activity is resuming. Our family recently went to an outdoor event where the majority of people were unmasked. Since the CDC announced guidelines last week that it was safe for vaccinated people to be unmasked both indoors and outdoors, I gladly went without a mask. One reason was because it was outside but also I knew many of the people there were vaccinated. I’m still a little hesitant in grocery stores with people I don’t know, however, so I may still continue wearing a mask when shopping. (Not because I’m scared of catching COVID necessarily, although there are those other strains out there, but that step may require a little more time to make sure we’re out of the woods of spreading COVID to others who are not yet vaccinated.)

It was really nice to see other people’s faces and smiles and even give hugs again. While most of the adults looked the same, so many of the kids have grown so much in the past year and a half that I almost felt that I had time traveled.

Anyway, this week’s song, “The Blessing of a New Day,” was written when plans were still cancelled and I was wondering what the world would be like on the other side of the pandemic, after this collective experience.

It was a summer of waiting, planning, then delaying
Contemplating how to make it through
It was a season of hope as we struggled to cope
System overload, no one knew what to do

When we wake up from this slumber
Will we break free from what pulled us under?
What will it take to discover the blessing of a new day?
I wanna embrace a new day

In the early days of the pandemic, there was a “we’re all in this together” kind of vibe but soon division started.

It was a time of confusion, a mix of fact and illusion
Which side are you choosing to rally behind?
We stood united, then fell divided
Is this a mess we created? A blessing in disguise?

Here’s to hoping that we’ll come out of this stronger and united, although so far it doesn’t seem like that will be the case.

The world is changing, today will be history
Let’s make tomorrow be the best it can be

What do you think? Will we learn anything from this past year? Will we appreciate the little things we may have previously overlooked?

When we wake up from this slumber
Will we break free from what pulled us under?
What will it take to discover the blessing of a new day?
I wanna embrace a new day, let’s embrace a new day.

(Coincidentally as I’m about to post this, Israel and Hamas have announced a cease-fire. Let’s hope that works and this conflict comes to an end. Might as well hope for peace while I’m at it.)