Comfortable in Covid? Here’s one powerful thing you can do.
By: Crystal Chan
Tags: Activism, Compassion, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Community

Comfortable in Covid? Here’s one powerful thing you can do.

The most inspiring thing happened. I was talking to an acquaintance at a Covid outdoor exercise group I belong to, and she asked me what it’s been like for me in these Covid times. I told her the truth: It’s been miserable. The financial instability with my layoff; the huge, gaping unknowns; the dehumanizing journey in navigating governmental bureaucracy, many times leading to dead ends; dealing with the instability of employers (Will they close? When?); and the physical isolation of living single in these times. She listened intently, told me that she cared, and I thought that was that.

Until I got a text from her. I want to give you money, she said. I called her back: I’m so sorry, I said. I didn’t mean to mislead you. I’m not starving, and I’m not homeless. I’m really uncomfortable, but it’s not an emergency.

This is how she responded, and she gave me hope again in humanity: “I am retired. These times have been deeply challenging for me precisely because I’m comfortable,” she said. “My life is stable: my finances, my routine. I have to wear a mask, but what is that? That’s nothing. Meanwhile, suffering is all around me. I’m reading about soup kitchens overwhelmed. Lines out the door. Hospital numbers. And all this time, my retirement portfolio keeps growing. That’s terrible. There’s so much suffering and I’m making more money? That’s not right. So, this is what I decided to do: I looked at my portfolio and chose a date at which the stock market really took off. And I’ve decided that I’m going to give that additional amount of money away. I should not be making money when others are suffering so much. I know you’re not destitute,” she said, “but I know a lot of people are, and I’m giving that money to local nonprofits, to help those people I don’t know. And every time the stock market goes up, I recalibrate how much I will be giving away. When I heard your situation, I wanted to support you. To let you know that you’re not alone. So that gift is coming from that fund — it’s been earmarked to be given away. That money is not meant to be kept. It’s not for me.”

I couldn’t tell you how much that made my heart swell in hope. You see, I have encountered numerous comfortable people. Some are kicking back, complaining about their cancelled cruises, and the biggest adjustment to their lives is the amount of times that they order takeout. Some others, like her, have used their discomfort to propel them deeper along the path of connection. They are using their times of abundance to connect with other people’s deep time of suffering.

Even more, I heard the implicit message: I’m connected to you, she was saying. I’m connected to my neighborhood. I’m connected to my city. I’m connected to strangers.

“One other option,” I told her, “is to sign up and support me on Patreon, because I’m doing a number of things there. You could support me on Patreon if you don’t want to just write me a check.”

She paused. “I just might do both.”

This incredible woman gives me hope. In a time when I see so many comfortable folks looking out only for themselves, people like her are out there. That is, there are people who choose to constantly stay awake, using their discomfort not to bring them to debilitating shame or numbing over, but to propel them deeper into what it means to be most fully human: awake and connected.

To be most fully human.