Hubris

A Letter to the Front Lines

May 15, 2020 /

Helen Noakes Top Banner

“When you called to tell me not to worry. To stay home, wear a mask, wash my hands, but not worry. I listened, because I knew that your words meant more than all the barking idiots at White House podiums. Because I knew that your level-headed efficiency in dealing with the worst human maladies was famous.”—Helen Noakes

Waking Point

By Helen Noakes

Courage in the time of COVID.
Courage in the time of COVID.

Helen Noakes

SAN FRANCISCO California—(Weekly Hubris)—15 May 2020—When you called to tell me not to worry. To stay home, wear a mask, wash my hands, but not worry. I listened, because I knew that your words meant more than all the barking idiots at White House podiums. Because I knew that your level-headed efficiency in dealing with the worst human maladies was famous.

I listened because it was you, the lovely little girl who’d grown into a powerhouse of service and a well of compassion.

And because it was you, I prayed. I prayed that you be kept safe, that your courage be rewarded, that you not collapse with exhaustion. I prayed for you, for so many things I could not express. I prayed.

I prayed, too, for all your colleagues throughout the world, who stood up to the horror of this silent killer, and I continue to pray.

With all my heart, I have one more thing to say. I love you. I love all of them. And wish, with all my heart, that I could shield you from the worst.

Helen Noakes is a playwright, novelist, writer, art historian, linguist, and Traditional Reiki Master, who was brought up in and derives richness from several of the world’s great traditions and philosophies. She believes that writing should engage and entertain, but also inform and inspire. She also believes that because the human race expresses itself in words, it is words, in the end, that will show us how very similar we are and how foolish it is to think otherwise. (Author Head Shot Augment: René Laanen.)

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