Social Distancing is the CDC’s first bullet for prevention and treatment of COVID-19, so we are hearing the term a lot. However, the concept of setting infectious people apart from the rest of us, or setting ourselves apart from the rest of them, is not new. It’s in the Bible (Leviticus). And, neither is setting people apart to control the spread of infectious disease the only kind of social distancing there is.
There is a kind of social distancing—let’s say choosing to approach or to keep one’s social distance on where to live, what school to attend, what company to work for, which friends to hang out with… Maybe it sounds like discrimination, but some of it not necessarily in a bad way, if discernment is conducted with kindness and lives are enriched, rather than hurt, as a result.
Even though there is something icky sticky hard for many of us about the conscious exclusion of other people from our lives, there are occasions when choosing our company, consciously and carefully, is exactly the right thing to do, for ourselves and the people we love.
These are pretty anxious times. People are worried about their companies, their jobs, their savings, the election, and their health. Some people are hardier than others in the face of whatever it is that life throws our way. These are the ones who lift people up.
Other people, for whatever reason less able to cope, may be looking for company in their misery. But all of that misery multiplied can really pull everyone down.
So, while we are picking and choosing whose company to be in physically, since emotions are contagious too, how about we exercise the right and responsibility to pick our emotional company as well.
Again, this could be a new way for some to think about how they people their lives. As always, practice, practice, practice, see what happens, and feel free to let me know with a comment below.
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