cat videos and covid

I was stopped on the corner of 23rd & Robinson, waiting for the light to turn green so I could finish the final two miles of my run. Across the street, I could see this little, elderly black man with one hand in his pocket (cue Alanis Morissette, here) and holding both a cigarette and his phone in the other, while wearing a very nearly toothless grin. As the walk sign flashed, and we began walking towards one another, he stopped me with his very nearly toothless grin and an offer to brighten my Monday. I’m already happy with the start to my morning, but who couldn’t use a little extra cheer on a Monday? “Of course, I said,” smiling back. His smile grew wider. Of course, I had no idea what was coming, so I couldn’t help but giggle when he held out his phone to show me a cat video his friend just sent him. I mean, I was a little bit giggling at the situation and a little bit giggling obligatorily, and he stopped me, “No, no… wait until the end.” The very last clip showed the cat darting across the room to pounce on his human’s bed and missing, and it’s just the sort of slapstick humor that I love - think the attic scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. He high-fived me as I continued on, marveling at his happiness over something so simple. In a world filled with mass shootings, meth addictions, and ego-driven world leaders sounding off with dick-measuring contests, we need more cat videos.

I was digging through the notes on my phone and came across that one from 2018. I remember that run vividly. It was a random, warmish day in January, and it was one of those runs fueled by sunshine and pure bliss. I remember finishing and realizing that I’d hit pause on the wild state of the world for ninety minutes and that I was lucky enough to experience a real human connection with someone out there just trying to brighten other people’s day. There isn’t really a smooth transition from that story to where we are now, save for the easy addition of COVID-19 to that last sentence. In my mind, it works, though…

We seem to be in a largely unnecessary constant state of crisis, lately, and this global pandemic is just another source of fuel for the fire. I get it. It’s a very real public health issue with very real implications for certain segments of the population, but the overreaction is, too, very real. Yes, we probably need to add a few extra precautionary measures, and we probably need to wash our hands a little more and touch each other a little less. And yes, we need to stay home if we’re sick (we should be doing that anyway), and we definitely should educate ourselves - but with facts, not fear. What if we chose the CDC website over Facebook? And what if we chose NPR over Google? What if we chose actual science over reckless opinions? What if we chose credible resources to get our information over fear-mongers and ridiculous (although, often quite funny) memes, and used that to influence the energy around us, rather than adapting to it?

This is a conversation I had many times over, yesterday, as I talked with other community leaders in the wellness industry and as I spoke with my team on the tough decisions we have ahead of us regarding our biggest event of the year. Admittedly, I swung pretty hard to the it’s-not-a-big-deal end of the spectrum, and I’m having to claw my way toward the more okay-let’s-give-this-some-weight middle, as I work with the venue directors and we all wait for the CDC, WHO, and State of Oklahoma to announce the next steps. All of our options come with consequences, whether it’s perpetuating risk, the realization of thousands of collective hours spent investing in this weekend lost, or affecting a lot of people financially, including the venue, presenters, and our beneficiary; but, it’s so important to operate from a place of logic and knowledge, not fear, and, fortunately, I’m connected to a strong community who believes the same.

I am (and have always been) a person with undeniably overly-optimistic faith in humanity, and even with cyberspace’s constant attempts to dash that faith, I keep hoping that the world will come to its senses and choose to respond, rather than react. I will continue to hope that community leaders will make decisions rooted in facts, rather than fear, and for the love of all things holy, I will maintain hope that people will stop stockpiling toilet paper.

edited to add: It is with both a sense of regret and responsibility that we’ve elected to postpone YogaFest OKC 2020. For those yogi readers in this space, you can find the information in this letter.

p.s. I know it’s not Monday, but I’m following that stranger’s suit and leaving you with this little nugget to hopefully brighten your day.

Scaredy Cat - the neighborhood wanderer who likes to explore our kitchens and play in our bags