When you go out and see the empty streets, the empty stadiums,
the empty train platforms, don’t say to yourself,
“It looks like the end of the world.”
What you are seeing is love in action.
What you are seeing in that negative space,
is how much we do care for each other, for our grandparents,
for our immune-compromised brothers and sisters,
for people we will never meet.
People will lose jobs over this.
Some will lose their businesses.
And some will lose their lives.
All the more reason to take a moment,
when you are out on your walk, or on your way to the store,
or just watching the news,
to look into the emptiness and marvel at all of that love.
Let it fill you and sustain you.
It isn’t the end of the world.
It is the most remarkable act of global solidarity we may ever witness.
Unknown Neighbor