There is no doubt during times of a pandemic---virus or otherwise---bad news and sad news dominate. The news media spends non-stop hours talking about what is going wrong and pictures back up their claim that things are coming apart at the seams. And for many of us, it seems to be correct. And the signs are ominous. People are suffering and dying. Even though most people will not die, even those who get the virus will go through a period of suffering or, at least, discomfort. Jobs are lost by the millions and the end of the story likely is not going to look like the beginning of the story.
It is easy to get mad and depressed. Those of a faith tradition might wonder where God is in all this stuff? As one who teaches in this area, I recognize that to be a centuries-old question. The Greeks had a fancy name for the problem---theodicy, which is, why does God allow suffering. There are answers, but no definitive answers. And many of those answers are not comforting or satisfying.
I can confess to much of this malady of the times. Routine has been seriously interrupted. I have to do things I don’t want to do. I miss my friends. I miss going wherever I want to go. My freedom has been curtailed and I don’t like it. I can still do my job, which is to teach. But I have to do it from home on a computer. It is like being on FaceTime forever. It is nice enough, but it is not the real thing.
It is in this situation when I go looking for something to make me smile and to know that human beings are as resilient as I think they are. I need confirmation that humor can play a role along with all the sordid stuff that goes on. Bad news abounds; is there is any good news? I am not looking for heroes. Media is full of hero stories and I relish those. I just need a good laugh.
Then I found it. It was buried in the middle of more bad news. It was a story to which I could relate. It was a story about Elisha Nochomovitz. I never heard of the guy and surely will never meet him. He is a French citizen living in Toulouse. He is a furloughed restaurant worker---which means he is temporarily out of work. As with most all French people, he was isolated at his house, or apartment, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nothing remarkable yet.
The key is to know that Elisha is a runner. He apparently is a serious runner. He has done marathons. I relate to that. I have done numerous marathons and, I contend, that makes you a serious runner. So what does Elisha conclude. “…there’s no excuse for you to skip those home workouts.” It seems my new hero had already signed up for the impending Barcelona and Paris marathons and they had already been cancelled. So he did the next best thing. He decided to run a marathon anyway!
But where do you run a marathon when you are in self-isolation in an apartment. Elisha decided he would just do a marathon on his balcony. After all, the balcony is seven meters. My rough math says that it about 22 feet. So he steps out on the balcony and begins his trek---back and forth for 26+ miles. I have run full marathons, but I cannot imagine doing it on a balcony. The balcony outside my window is not seven meters, but nevertheless, can you imagine how many times he had to turn around within 26 miles!
The news report said it took him 6 hours and 48 minutes. That is slower than any time I ever ran a marathon, but I did not have as many turns! I love his intentionality, motivation, determination and resiliency. And I appreciate his reasoning. “I wanted to bring something playful to the containment.” I smiled when I read this. And that was my quest: to find something about which I could smile. And maybe even laugh at and, finally, laugh with a guy who is crazy (or sane?) enough to run a marathon on a balcony.
There may seem nothing redemptive or encouraging about this story. Seeing something spiritual may be a real reach. Maybe Elisha is a looney. But I look at what I have written. I said that I loved his intentionality, motivation, determination and resiliency. Are these not laudable qualities of being human. In many ways, I could have written the same words about many of the heroes of the pandemic. Everyone who practices empathy, compassion and service display all of these qualities.
Elisha allows me to be fully human. And to be fully human is to be spiritual. It is to bring intentionality to life. In spite of tough times, spiritual folks are intentional about what is important. They continue to be motivated when they feel tired, depressed, sad and so on. Surely to be spiritual is to be determined. It is a lifetime journey. Things happen---surely bad things will happen. We will have to be resilient or we won’t make it.
And I hope we can find a way to smile---at least occasionally. And even to laugh. I want to laugh out loud again. As a spiritual person I actually think the end---even the end of it all---will be a laugh and not a cry. It finally will be comedy and not tragedy.
Keep running…life is a long run, maybe even a marathon!
It is easy to get mad and depressed. Those of a faith tradition might wonder where God is in all this stuff? As one who teaches in this area, I recognize that to be a centuries-old question. The Greeks had a fancy name for the problem---theodicy, which is, why does God allow suffering. There are answers, but no definitive answers. And many of those answers are not comforting or satisfying.
I can confess to much of this malady of the times. Routine has been seriously interrupted. I have to do things I don’t want to do. I miss my friends. I miss going wherever I want to go. My freedom has been curtailed and I don’t like it. I can still do my job, which is to teach. But I have to do it from home on a computer. It is like being on FaceTime forever. It is nice enough, but it is not the real thing.
It is in this situation when I go looking for something to make me smile and to know that human beings are as resilient as I think they are. I need confirmation that humor can play a role along with all the sordid stuff that goes on. Bad news abounds; is there is any good news? I am not looking for heroes. Media is full of hero stories and I relish those. I just need a good laugh.
Then I found it. It was buried in the middle of more bad news. It was a story to which I could relate. It was a story about Elisha Nochomovitz. I never heard of the guy and surely will never meet him. He is a French citizen living in Toulouse. He is a furloughed restaurant worker---which means he is temporarily out of work. As with most all French people, he was isolated at his house, or apartment, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nothing remarkable yet.
The key is to know that Elisha is a runner. He apparently is a serious runner. He has done marathons. I relate to that. I have done numerous marathons and, I contend, that makes you a serious runner. So what does Elisha conclude. “…there’s no excuse for you to skip those home workouts.” It seems my new hero had already signed up for the impending Barcelona and Paris marathons and they had already been cancelled. So he did the next best thing. He decided to run a marathon anyway!
But where do you run a marathon when you are in self-isolation in an apartment. Elisha decided he would just do a marathon on his balcony. After all, the balcony is seven meters. My rough math says that it about 22 feet. So he steps out on the balcony and begins his trek---back and forth for 26+ miles. I have run full marathons, but I cannot imagine doing it on a balcony. The balcony outside my window is not seven meters, but nevertheless, can you imagine how many times he had to turn around within 26 miles!
The news report said it took him 6 hours and 48 minutes. That is slower than any time I ever ran a marathon, but I did not have as many turns! I love his intentionality, motivation, determination and resiliency. And I appreciate his reasoning. “I wanted to bring something playful to the containment.” I smiled when I read this. And that was my quest: to find something about which I could smile. And maybe even laugh at and, finally, laugh with a guy who is crazy (or sane?) enough to run a marathon on a balcony.
There may seem nothing redemptive or encouraging about this story. Seeing something spiritual may be a real reach. Maybe Elisha is a looney. But I look at what I have written. I said that I loved his intentionality, motivation, determination and resiliency. Are these not laudable qualities of being human. In many ways, I could have written the same words about many of the heroes of the pandemic. Everyone who practices empathy, compassion and service display all of these qualities.
Elisha allows me to be fully human. And to be fully human is to be spiritual. It is to bring intentionality to life. In spite of tough times, spiritual folks are intentional about what is important. They continue to be motivated when they feel tired, depressed, sad and so on. Surely to be spiritual is to be determined. It is a lifetime journey. Things happen---surely bad things will happen. We will have to be resilient or we won’t make it.
And I hope we can find a way to smile---at least occasionally. And even to laugh. I want to laugh out loud again. As a spiritual person I actually think the end---even the end of it all---will be a laugh and not a cry. It finally will be comedy and not tragedy.
Keep running…life is a long run, maybe even a marathon!
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