I lived in a small apartment in an upscale community complex in Mumbai (at the time of writing this). Yesterday, I saw a common notice about the steps being taken towards safe guarding ourselves during the ongoing corona pandemic. A lot of it made sense but one of the items on the list made me stop in my tracks; it read:

Friends & residents should use the main lifts while maids & househelp are restricted to using service lifts only

Notice board of an upscale residential community complex in Mumbai

“Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, "May I have permission to go into battle with you?" Fear said, "Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission." Then the young warrior said, "How can I defeat you?" Fear replied, "My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power." In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. ”

Chapter: Not causing harm, from the book When Things Fall Apart

Once we see it, we can instead learn to pause. To acknowledge the fear. To not impulsively feed this cycle of aggression.

It's a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we being to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness. The result is that we cease to cause harm. We begin to know ourselves thoroughly and to respect ourselves[...] by coming to know ourselves, thoroughly processed by this honest, gentle mindfulness.

Pema Chodron

Shared rituals help create a sense of community, which has more meaning now than anytime in our lifetime. Now more than at any time in our lives, we will be judged by our capacity for compassion. When this is over, and it will be over, we want to look back at this time & remember the many small acts of kindness, done to us and by us.

edited - anonymous