Friends – 

I send greetings to you in your home from all of us in our home nearby Quaker House in Brussels. Our family is all together, since Frieda and Esther came home from their studies abroad. After two months together, I’m happy to say that “All’s well.” This is new for all of us, but we’re coping. My wife has full time tele-work every week day at her desk in our family room. Ben, 13, has had full-time school from the first day of “Corona Time.” His school arranged that all teachers have contact with all students on the same schedule they had in “real school.” We are grateful that we have the space, computers, and many other resources to help us get by.

Being closed in by four walls I’ve also had to face challenges to my physical and mental health and well-being. While no one I know has had COVID19, it’s not far away. And the consequences of confinement are impacting all of us.  There were two deaths in our children’s social circles and no one knew what to do to comfort the grieving. 

The confinement was really affecting my mood. I started paying more attention to how I was feeling, and noticing that I had some “good days” and some “bad days”. 

So when it was clear that confinement would continue for some time, I worked out a programme that includes daily walks or bike rides, usually with a family member, checking on friends & neighbours, keeping to a schedule, doing something, especially things that “only I can do” as a parent, neighbor, residents’ group member, etc.

Doing this helps me appreciate each day, or feel useful, and social. Get out, breathe fresh air. See the sunshine, sunset, moonrise. Venus was very bright. With family, walking gives us some quality time, and a chance to talk one-to-one. At neighbours’ doorsteps I’ve learned that there’s almost no COVID19 in our area. That’s reassuring. Some like parts of the confinement, and want to see them continue, such as the reduced work stress, working from home, the reduced traffic and safer streets…

I’ve also paid attention to all of the work that people are doing, to help others and themselves cope with the situation. Many Friends have been working hard to adjust to Corona times: for example, the many Quaker Zoom Meetings, for worship, reading & study groups, group videos, and worship sharing. New initiatives like Quaker Meals on Wheels were set up to deal with specific needs. Other adaptations were made to allow work to continue as much as possible. BLYM ‘officers’ have been working hard on every part of our Meeting: clerks, elders, finance, oversight, residential planning, and more. I see this kind of action, good will and cooperation also happening at many other levels: neighbourhood, community, city, country and even international level.

While some leaders get attention for bad behavior, I prefer to focus on the ones who are working for the common good, like the EU head who organized pledges of billions of euros for the development of vaccines to be available for every country. While there are so many uncertainties and good reasons to worry, I try to focus on facts, scientific, political and social. That includes the fact that researchers are sharing their information widely and scientific publishers have dropped paywalls. Experts have said “We’ve never learned so much so fast about any disease in human history”. I see that the responses to Corona show that governments CAN take ‘radical’ action and people WILL follow new rules when it’s clear that it’s needed. These things give me hope for the future. Even while my daughters don’t know if they can go back to university in September, I’m asking the City for permission to close our street for our annual Charles Quint Street Party. In September. Maybe we won’t be able to do it. Maybe very few will want to come. But I’m hopeful and planning for better days. I hope you are too.

Go well friends

Randy Rzewnicki, 13 May 2020