Anonymous

The weather is “perfect”. You know that day when the sky is sheer deep blue, and itʼs warm and windy and delicious and youʼd be a fool not to be out there in it?

My COVID-19 lockdown walk takes me past houses on one side of the road, along quite narrow pavements, then along a country path. Both these locations require all of us whose paths cross to practice the fine art of communication: we need to create safe distance, establish mutual consent, wait and watch to cue each other in, maintain civility. Itʼs pretty complex. And weʼve only been doing it for a short while. And nobody taught us how to do it.

Youʼd think one or two of these little encounters would go wrong. Youʼd think it might get awkward. But today youʼd be wrong. Everybody I meet, and must keep at a safe distance, smiles warmly. Either of us waits for the other to pass within two metres, each of us smiles and greets the other. One woman walks her dog down the middle of the road to allow me enough space. I thank her, and she says “Youʼre welcome”. I shuffle into a driveway to allow a man coming the other way to pass, and we exchange reassuring smiles. The young woman and her small child smile, and give me room to pass by.

So much smiling. So much unforced courtesy. Limitless co-operation. Youʼd think humans were designed to be generous of spirit, to co-operate, to consider and help each other. Maybe we were. Homage to the Sangha.

This article is available only as part of the Summer 2020 Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.  

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