A Warning Bell of All We Could Lose

The Washington Post published a piece on 9/17/20 about being a Grief Leader and I wholeheartedly agree with all their advice and points - we must acknowledge, empathize, be present for one another and create meaning after a loss. Not just out of the deaths (200,000 and counting), but out of everything we are losing this year - some events we can recreate - some will be harder....

But I would like to draw a direct thread between those griefs and losses and all the things that are threatening to tear our nation apart. We ignore these at our peril.

The challenges and losses and curve balls coming at us are almost impossible to calculate:

• Pandemic

• Economic Chaos

• Socio-Political Rage

• Democracy at risk

• Hurricanes and storms getting stronger and more frequent

• Money prioritized over human beings

And so much more....it is overwhelming and exhausting.

And pretending that these things are not real will not make them go away, nor will they serve us as individuals or as a nation.

When we suffer a loss, so many of us are told:

• There's nothing you can do

• Just get on with your life

• It's not that bad

• You'll get over it

We are being told the exact same things about Covid-19, about racism, about economic crashes, about storms, about the election - the list goes on and on and on.

We have more information and video and quotes and social media than ever.

And yet we are constantly being told we are not feeling what we feel.

We are not seeing what we see.

We are not hearing what we hear.

At what cost? Why should we care?

Truth dies in the darkness - so here are some facts:

• Poor mental health leads to a lowered immune system - in the middle of a pandemic, and with flu season coming.

• Stress and anger increase the hormone cortisol, which interferes with sleep, digestion, mood and our body's ability to heal itself.

• Our health care system is fractured to the core and this will add an enormous strain on it.

• We will add countless thousands to the losses of jobs, losses of homes, losses of savings - this is not a political argument.

None of these losses will come to your door and ask who you voted for or how American you are or what faith you are or what country you come from.

If the nation crashes, we all suffer. Period.

This is a warning.

ALL of this is connected. Our economic health, socioeconomic health, political health, environmental health - it is ALL the same.

Our cost will be very dear indeed if we do not learn this....