The dictionary describes Kaleidoscope as “a tube containing loose bits of colored material (as glass) and two mirrors at one end that shows many different patterns as it is turned.”
I am the tube and I have two mirrors, in my head, filled with patterns of ideas which can be viewed as I turn my mind. The glass parts are my feelings. Most times even and light; oftentimes still and dreamy but there are times my feelings can be stained with a deeper color to match my stilled mood!
How to capture a feeling but how to tame and conquer the emotion is the question! Emotion can mean turmoil but once the (E) is removed we are left with movement. Which way should we turn?
“Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go.” Mooji
My question is “how is a kaleidoscope like our pandemic?” Constantly changing!
I’m sure that anyone reading this blog has experienced a myriad of feelings during our pandemic! Do you feel like a kaleidoscope? No matter how we twist or turn, we hit a dead end. Our emotions are like a rising thermometer. Our brains, tired from improvising how to make ends meet or what can I use in place of TP; should we run out! I found our pandemic to be earth shattering; more than challenging.
For good or ill, the world, we knew, has been turned on its head and we have been forced to reorganize the raw reality of everyday living. Suddenly, the real things in life, which have been cast aside, pre-pandemic, are now of extreme importance!
Pandemic has taught me, as old as I am, that life is so fragile and nothing in life can be taken for granted! Just to be able to draw a fresh breath, (maskless), each and every moment is magical! And to be “free” has a new meaning for me.
Yesterday’s 4 “R’s,” reading, writing, arithmetic, and art have changed long before Covid-19 but now, 2020, our schoolchildren, of all ages, are experiencing a new way of learning without their teachers. How will this affect future teaching and learning? We will always need bright shining stars to stand before our learning population. Comedic storytellers, all musicians and insightful people of prayer have always been our life line but, now, more than ever! Thank God for all the “great streaming” into our homes world over! This heartfelt streaming has become my daily life line! My FaceBook friends, all over the world, keep me more than informed; they are my daily visitors.
‘Till this day, I can recall President Kennedy’s death. Where I was, what I was doing; the laundromat, doing diapers! Also, 9/11! Travelling from Italy to Sicily! And how the news was broken to we, the travellers! But, this pandemic is beyond anything I’ve yet endured! God awful! Like a kaleidoscope, broken with icy dim colored pieces! And for so many, world over, pieces will be crushed for life.
I love how every other person has made their kitchen, their “cave!” All this bread and sweet baking, a welcome change; a new life line! Thanks bakers and for passing your recipes on. I especially love, “It’s an Italian Thing!” Drooling from all the colorful food! Thanks to all the spirit builders; joke tellers, images of humans, and animals that tickle us and produce our daily laughter. My hat is off and my heart is filled with love and gratefulness for all those who are on the front lines preventing the virus from reaching us! But, we must do our part too!
Take heed and warning and stay put!! Take sips of “wisdom” from your cup every day! And one day soon, we’ll become a beautiful kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. And when this happens, please world, let understanding and appreciation amongst all people be our new view. As I rotate my tube of colors, I see a happy and heartwarming view and want to share it with you. A new world held in the arms of our children.
So, world, take heart and join me as we pray for a new world; while listening to an old song by Louis Armstrong….”I see trees of green and skies of blue….I think to myself ‘What a Wonderful World’…… Let Wisdom triumph!
Nancy Fraioli is a retired Benefits Asst. from Town/Village of Harrison, NY. She’s alive and well, residing in Sarasota with her daughter and family and enjoying the Floridian lifestyle daily.
Her passions are writing, reading books of philosophy, children’s stories and poetry. Her deep love is living, learning and sharing how faith, meditation, and music guide her daily life. And she loves to lunch with the ladies!