Social Distancing?

"Answering the Call"
group of Eureka folk supplying food

Today, we may tend to think of self-isolation as a new invention for these trying times. The word quarantine comes from the Latin word for 40, quadraginta. There are many references to 40-day periods in the Bible and other sacred texts, Jesus and Moses being the examples we are most familiar with. These times of isolation may be to protect ourselves and others, such as quarantining ships in harbors, but they can also be times in which moral and spiritual growth are experienced. In reading an article about these things, I discovered something I'd never heard about. There were people called anchorites who would be bricked up in a tiny room, with small windows to receive food and view the altar of the church. They would never go outside again, but they were not lonely because they were the spiritual centers of their communities. People would seek them out for advice and prayer. Our current phrase "social distancing" has an echo of those medieval times, with the term implying that even though we are distant, we are social. Even though we keep a distance from each other, it suggests that we are socially working together for the good of our communities and family. I'm glad to see more people helping those in need from their self-isolated position, acting like anchorites, rather than being on a quarantined plague ship. Thank you each and every one for bringing goodness to so many!

"It were better to be exposed to every plague on earth than to endure the cumulative effects of a guilty conscience. The abiding consciousness of wrongdoing tends to destroy the ability to do right." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 405:22