Responsibility is always in front of you
Life is always offering you a thousand different opportunities to do wonderful things if you have the imagination to manifest them. It gives you the vision to see the grandest plausible version of yourself and pursue it. At the same time, it also offers you as many responsibilities as you wish to take on, and one can hide within the other, opportunities and responsibilities are always intersecting and are often interdependent aspects of the same thing, they accompany each other like twin sisters, you invite one in and the other one just turns up. At the current time, responsibility seems to be turning up in abundance, just the act of walking down the road to get a pint of milk has turned into a life and death game of lurgy with a kill zone of two
meters
You did not get a choice in having to play the game, however the whistle has been blown and everyone has to join in, it is the worst compulsory physical education sport's afternoon in history and it seems to be going on forever. There is a choice, you do not have to play, but you have been given the responsibility for playing whether you like it or not, and if you do not play, it automatically means you have the lurgy and everyone else who is playing the game is going to be especially avoiding you, both because you have the lurgy and as you mark yourself as socially illiterate, a danger above and beyond an accidental lurgy carrier, an active zombie.
If you are playing the game like a good boy or girl, then remember that there are the zombies mixed into the crowd, you give care to everyone, the step into the cycle lane, wait for others to pass, help where you can. However when you spot a zombie take extra care, give them more space not less, keep you eyes firmly fixed on them, because they could lurch mindlessly in any direction, for no reason and without due attention for others, so be the one that gives the innocent an escape path between you and the zombie, and mark them for the future. As at the current moment it is easy to spot the low quality people who lack awareness for anyone but themselves, that do not possess the mindfulness to protect themselves let alone others from their carelessness. Ask yourself if you would swap position, and be the zombie rather than the responsible surviour
Take notice both of them, those who act well, are decent, caring and can even smile, and then there are people you never want in your life except at the great distance of pity and care. They are the people who operate from a place of fear, how utterly lost these people must be, how out of step with the world, how lacking in awareness they must be, they are helpless child with the appearance of being an adult. When the present emergency passes we can turn to helping these people grow up, but for now avoid those who do not know better.
Whilst having kindness for the weak and immature, I can forgive, silly teenagers, if you expect teenagers to act in any other way, you are going to be disappointed. They are naturally and biologically self-absorbed, and they should be given credit for taking on adult responsibilities before they are ready, they should be closing the distance between them not increasing it, but tough times grow stronger trees, and this generation is going to be stronger than we are, because they will internalise it in a way that the grown up won't, we after-all, are all expecting things to go back to normal which is unlikely. The teenagers are more adaptable and they going to think this is the way things are and they will be harden as a result.
However everyone can learn from this situation, we can learn to be comfortable with our own company, we can be kind when we are suffering and we can give at a time of wants, make do with what we have and still enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Apples still taste sweet, a single glass of wine is a pleasure without the need for a hangover, the birds sing no matter the disaster and the dawn happens every morning.
There are no excuses for going to bed late and depriving yourself of sleep (eight hours makes everything better both mentally and physically), you have time to read, learn that second language, meditate, you have the opportunity to experience life without having to shop, that party dress or haircut is unnecessary for any one but yourself. You can give yourself the ultimate stay at home spa, or pretend you are in a monk lair, move you body in unusual way, practice your jiu jitsu, explore your mind. You can pay attention to your living environment, is it a place that encourages success, a positive life, does it reflect who you are.
And that is the real game, deciding who you want to be, and we play it everyday of our lives, today is no different just the circumstances change, who we are is the sum of the actions we take today and every day after this. Words do not matter if they are not matched by the actions that we then take, the words are important as an action in and of themselves, but they are the first action not the final action. You do not get to say the words and then you are let into paradise, you have to walk the walk of a person who takes on great responsibilities and opportunities, that pursues what they want in the best way that they can, with all of what they have got. Sometimes that is by doing nothing, though there is a world of difference between, doing nothing out of fear rather than carefully thought about inaction, silence and distance.
Sometimes you do have to be strong enough to walk away, to stop repeating the same actions to get the same results. You might feel every bone in your body wanting to pursue, when the only sensible and self preserving action is to stop, there are no perfect answers sometimes just choices, sacrifices to be made for the best position you can find. Sometimes the girl just does not want to hold your hand, and you to take it away, say goodbye and find someone who does, and then the next life alternating choice might be about whether to go for a walk today, life is a never ending set of surprising and unexpected choices, and the miracle of life is that our choices actually matter, at least to us, so make good choices and choose your responsibilities with care and kindness to yourself and others.
