Post 40 - April 20, 2020
Day 40…
It has been forty days since Michael and I hunkered down.
Many of the world’s religions consider forty an important number.
In Christianity, Christ fasted and walked through the desert for forty days and nights. Lent, which honors this, lasts for forty days.
In both Christianity and Judaism, in the story of Noah, it rained for forty days and forty nights and when that was over, Noah waited for forty days after the tops of the mountains could be seen before he released the raven.
Islam, also believes that Moses (Musa) spent forty days on Mt. Sinai before he received the Ten Commandments.
The fortieth day after death has significance for both some Russians and Serbs as well as some Filipinos.
In Hinduism, several popular fasting periods last for forty days.
There are other far more mundane references to forty: Ali Baba had forty thieves, we use WD40 to stop things squeaking, a typical Western work week is forty hours, It takes forty weeks to bring a pregnancy to term.
The word quarantine, itself, actually derives from the Venetian version of the Italian ‘quaranta giorni’ which means ‘forty days’. That was the length of time that Venetian officials required arriving ships to be isolated in harbor during the Black Death.
There are countless more references to the number forty both in our religions as well as in our secular lives.
So, what does the number forty mean for us?
There is a very funny video being passed around of a woman talking to her pre-coronavirus self. In the video she tries to tell herself in the past what to expect. Herself in the past is rightfully incredulous.
Forty days ago, I hadn’t heard of Zoom. I had never worn a mask. We used white vinegar to clean surfaces. We didn’t make jokes about toilet paper. Forty days ago, I wasn’t really aware of anything that Andrew Cuomo was doing. Up to the point that we hit forty days ago, I typically spent about a third of my life traveling and when I was home, my suitcase was always semi-packed.
Up until forty days ago, Michael made a meal maybe once or twice a week. We ate out a lot. I got my hair cut every couple of weeks. I wore button down shirts.
The list goes on and on.
Forty days ago, I thought that what was happening in Italy was terrible.
We have had a forty-day crash course in how to live through a pandemic.
For all of us now, though, I’m not sure that the number forty really means anything more than the number after thirty-nine and the one before forty-one.
It is worth noting, I think, though, that we have gotten through this past forty days.
We have lost people.
Tragically.
We have lost people we shouldn’t have lost.
In the last forty days, though, we have changed how we go about our daily lives and those changes have saved many other lives.
Those changes have meant that we have lost fewer people that we’ve loved.
Those changes may have even saved our own lives.
We are still here.
What we are all doing together is making a difference.
We need to hold the course.
We are still here.