What Monet Taught Me about Coronavirus

     Denver is in lock-down now, and social distancing isn't helping to flatten my curve - I’ve gained three pounds because I’m eating more and exercising less. In my coop here, I’m trying not to be Chicken Little yelling, “The sky is falling.” Even though it is.      
     When I stop flapping my wings long enough, I recall a painting by Impressionist artist Claude Monet I observed at an exhibit prior to this pestilence. Monet looked out his London hotel window toward a bridge shrouded by belching smokestacks. He was awestruck by the translucent beauty of smoggy fog reflected on the river.     
     We’re living in the fog of facts and the smog of fear today. Yet there’s a translucent beauty. People caring about others. Forgiveness extended when we get testy - and we do. And good humor (“There’s a new strain of COVID-19 from touching old typewriters. It’s called Smith-Corona virus.”).     
     A friend emailed some of us who are isolated. “Encouragement isn’t limited by space. We have our phones, computers, and prayers to be ‘social’ and connect.”     
     That’s good advice when the bridges that carried us on daily routines are shrouded, even closed. We don’t have to let this plague beat us down. We can build each other up with purposeful acts of kindness - even from a distance.     
​     What can I do today to encourage someone?