Hello, I know it's been a while.

So what’s been happening lately?

Have you noticed how long it’s been since we started a phone call, text or email that way? Here, now in the fourth month of knowing about this fast-spreading virus, and just over a month since the WHO (World Health Organization) declared it a Pandemic, we have more time to talk. What we want to talk about is a global conversation.

Yes, right now, right before our eyes, human consciousness is changing. We are watching as most of the world unites in love and the sharing of resources. People worldwide are finding ways to reach across the street to help their neighbours and assist their friends across borders. This is no surprise, as we always knew that we would do what it takes to help each other when life became more important than luxury.

I am fortunate. I am still in Costa Rica, a country being honoured worldwide for its progressive approach to protective borders and isolation. As of writing this, we are completely “locked down,” which means there are no gatherings at all. We are being told to stay home and always practice safe distancing. Based on our license plate, this includes the recent implementation of driving restrictions that only allow us to drive twice a week. There is an additional day for ONLY buying groceries or medicine. All roads are closed from 5 pm until 8 am, seven days a week. Costa Rica does this because it wants to keep its Covid19 numbers as low as possible. It’s working. In a country of over five million residents, it has just under 600 cases and three deaths, fourteen in critical. It seems to be working.

When Costa Rica told all visitors who want to leave “to leave as soon as possible because the borders are closing,” it was fast and firm. Then they balanced that statement with, “For those that stay, we will look after you.” You see, for Ticos (Costa Ricans), family is everything. By world standards, most Ticos have very little. Things like money and “possessions” are fourth on their list of needs. God is first, then family, then community.

For reasons best understood by Canada’s Prime Minister, the Canadian borders remained open longer than perhaps was optimum. I believe the PM was acting for the good of all. I sincerely do. I know Canada, my home, is now doing what it takes to be a leader in curtail the spread within a country’s borders. I know that Canada will do whatever it takes to be of support for other countries as well. Canada is not alone, for we know many other countries are doing the same thing.

There is one country that is suffering more than they seem to know. Its leadership appears questionable at best of times, and doubt seems to permeate even its best decisions. The States needs our prayers now. Yes, this is just another of the many viruses in the world. Yet we, as outsiders, neighbours, and members of this world community, are seeing something very different than they are. When money and business are more important than lives, what else is there? The States needs our prayers now. If this email finds you living in the States, please know how much you are loved and you are not alone. We see what is happening. We care.

In 2003, during the SARS N1H1 outbreak, Toronto became a global focal point of the disease. My memory is that it took ten years for the city to recover financially. Toronto had to put its focus on a responsible response to the outbreak. Then when the virus was under control, Toronto went to work on improving the way the world saw it. That said, I still meet people from other countries who have concerns about going there, even 17 years later. Canada had between 400 and 500 cases of the N1H1 and 44 deaths. So as you can see, with over 400,000 infected with the Covid-19 virus, the States needs our prayers now.

As a world consciousness, we must honour all countries that are suffering. They, too, are deserving of our prayers and support. The States is not only leading the world in the number of cases, but it also has almost as much as the second, third and fourth leading countries added together. Again, now is not the time for fear. It is time for friends and neighbours to support each other.

This current virus asks us who we are as a people, as a family, as nations, and as inhabitants of this planet. The States, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and China are our community, as are all other countries. We are must see beyond what some describe as minute numbers of infected among millions or billions.

An alarm bell has been ringing for a long time. We are just hearing it more now. It is time for us to collectively choose to wake up or “hit the snooze button.” While it is easy to dive into fear, this is a time for calm and rational action. It is a time to see opportunities where past models are crumbling. It is time to seek an inner global truth and act accordingly. That truth is born in love and a healthy community. We are to be examples of possibility for the exposed, weak and oppressed, and caregivers to the sick. It is time to be guided by a collective consciousness that knows the right thing “to do.” The time has come to transcend acting like bickering children on a sinking boat and behaving as calm and rational elders of a healthy community.

If you are healthy, stay healthy and support those at risk, or at least those supporting those at risk. This is what the community does, and if it calls to you, meditate, pray, or both for a unity community. May I suggest you do so from a place of love, free of fear?

And please find time to pray for the States.