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| Friends of the Pacific Electric Trail |
2020 will go down in the history books for many reasons,
however, the resounding memory or lesson learned could be a deep and inspiring resiliency
of mankind. It is everyone’s choice to
take away what they will, everyday we can choose what our outlook on life will
be. What started out as another year filled with promise, growth, and
opportunities, abruptly changed in late February early March with the
announcement of a world-wide pandemic named COVID-19. The world changed forever, and nothing was
the same. What we took for granted soon
changed, and what we thought was a firm footing in the world, quickly turned
out to be shifting sands, leaving us unbalanced. We struggled to adjust to sheltering in place
and social distancing as we watched the ever-mounting numbers of patients
filling the hospitals. At times, we seemed to be at war with ourselves desperately trying to comprehend the
constant grief that so many families had to endure being separated from their
loved ones who lay sick alone and scared. It was difficult enough to comprehend
the massive scale of this pandemic as we struggled to explain the mandatory
restrictions to our children.
For parents with school aged children, learning how to help
their child with distance learning became a challenge. Teachers had to master zoom teaching;
employers had to rethink how to stay in business while their staff worked efficiently
from home. Restaurants had an especially
difficult time keeping their doors open and often had to reduce their staff or
even close. Essential workers such as mail
carriers, firefighters, law enforcement, emergency and hospital workers and the
construction industries had to carry written documentation in case they were
stopped while driving to work. It is
foreign to come to a complete stop from who we are and tried to navigate a safe
way to live our lives while isolated at home.
Socializing was put-on long-term hold; we wore our masks to the grocery
store to pick up supplies for our families and quickly rushed home to wash our
hands and hope that we were not exposed to the virus.
The Friends of the Pacific Electric Trail abruptly put on
the brakes from hosting any public events or fundraising activities due to the restrictions
of the pandemic. We decided to shift
gears and expand our social media presence and launched our weekly blog series. During this time, we are gearing up to launch
our YouTube Channel all while working from home.
With extra time on our hands from either not commuting to
work or for many, not working, the proximity of bike and hiking trails has
proven to be an important escape from being isolated at home. Fortunately for residents in the Inland
Empire, we have easy access to the 21-mile regional Pacific Electric
Trail. While it provides a safe outdoor
release of pent-up energies and tension through physical exercise, it also
provides a welcome release for our frustration of our mental and emotional
health. The Friends used this time to
develop a “safe distancing” video highlighting some of the many amenities along
the PE Trail.
The graduating class of 2020 had to miss their prom and
graduation. Birthdays were celebrated
via zoom or maybe friends and families would decorate their vehicles and drive
by honking their horns. Retail
businesses that were already on shaky ground, closed their doors for good and
filed for bankruptcy. Families who lost
a loved one could not even gather for a funeral. Our natural desire to express compassion for
others had to be done remotely. Our
familiar lives were literally suspended in time as we tried to comprehend over
330,000 lives lost world-wide.
We were all ill-prepared for the lasting effects of
isolation and changes to our mental health.
But for some, this pandemic thrust us into working from home and finding
ways to stay productive and connected to the world. We found inspiration in our families and
friends and realized how much we all need each other. With all fabric of our
world in constant fluctuation, we need to take a moment and look inward for our
firm ground. Finding balance, serenity, calm,
and peace of mind is an “inside job” we need now more than ever. The deep resiliency of mankind continues to
inspire me and hopefully next year, we will begin to emerge into a world where
it is safe to socialize again.
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