There is a pandemic creating a crisis around the world. Our community is not exempt from it. It is all-consuming. It has made many of us uncomfortable, or outright fearful, about our futures. It has altered the way we live our lives.  

Most of us reading this have acquired the tools to maneuver through this temporary “new normal.” We have created a home office, where we log into our Zoom account to stay in touch. We are online shopping and, if needed, getting socially distanced delivery. We are participating in the “eat local” challenges and hosting virtual game nights with family and friends.  

Is this inconvenient, stressful and uncertain? Yes. But most of us reading this know that someday our lives will return to what we expect.  

However, for many people in our community, the unexpected is normal. A public health pandemic hasn’t altered their life that drastically. They have lived, and continue to live, in a state of uncomfortability, fear, isolation and hopelessness — feelings that perhaps you may be temporarily experiencing now. 

At Urban Dreams, most of our clients do not miss eating out, happy hours, movies, a concert or the gym. Because even without a pandemic, these luxuries of life are not afforded to them.  

Most of us are not used to being told what activities we can and can not do, or who we can spend time with, or where we can and cannot go. We don’t live with the idea of scarcity and not knowing how to get what we need. However, these are lifelong, daily experiences for many of Urban Dreams’ clients and neighbors. 

I recently participated in a virtual meeting with other business and community leaders to share our fears, impediments, accomplishments, insight and advice during this unprecedented time. At the end of the meeting, I made a statement similar to this: “I would like you all to understand that these tough, uncertain feelings and experiences are what most Urban Dreams clients have lived with their entire lives. And for most of them, they will continue to have these feelings and experiences after this pandemic ends.” 
 
As I reflected on this statement and realized how prior to this moment so few individuals knew what it meant to be vulnerable, I found hope. Perhaps this pandemic may be a catalyst to bring us all closer together and find common ground. Only through shared lived experience can we be genuinely empathetic.  
I hope that we, as a community, don’t forget these feelings of uncertainty and fear and that we pledge to remain more compassionate, collaborative and authentic to those who will feel this way once life returns to “normal.” 
Be kind, and be safe.