Drive in any direction in the USA and before long you’ll see construction areas with signboards that read WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER.
We also heard this appeal adnauseum during Covid lockdowns.
Politicians preached it. Healthcare talking-heads droned about it almost as much as we heard, and still hear, the darsted word “unprecedented.”
On the freeways it’s an attempt to slow traffic and reduce accidents.
In the other contexts it’s clearly an attempt to rally and unify the population.
I want to ask, “What IS the ‘THIS’ we are in, together?”
In my book:
We are in this fabulous, beautiful, adventurous, journey called life.
We are fellow-explorers, inventors, thinkers, servers, creators, enjoy-ers.
We are on the shared journey of keeping our families together, no matter what distance may separate us.
We are IN THIS TOGETHER when our neighbor is ill and we offer and take food and do so, not because we say the words, “I am with you in this.”
In this – being “in this” no matter what it is – impacts our lives, usually costs us time and money.
I am with you in what you are facing is demonstrated by action, not words.
We may live alongside each other but we are only IN THIS TOGETHER when, despite our differences, we show up for each other.
The Mercury— 9-11-2023
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