This is what I (Mary) wrote on April 19 for our e-newsletter:
With the world watching Minneapolis during the Chauvin trial, and the tragedy and unrest of the past week, our community is dealing with tremendous disruption, grief and fear.
Some are finding a listening ear — and hope — by contacting Walk-In by phone or video for our free counseling services.
Only recently could we even start to think about how and when we could return to in-person contact — or “normal.”
These days, as I wonder when (about everything), I also wonder this: What will normal be? Author Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to look critically at the old “normal” when she writes:
“We will never go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-coronaexistence was not normal . . . (Here I add, our pre-George Floyd existence also) “We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”
Maybe I and all of us can add to stitching that new garment, if only in the way we treat others.
I do wish that we all can get through this mess we’ve made, and perhaps gain a bit of perspective, knowledge, maybe even inspiration from it. There are silver linings, and I love to hear about them.
— Mary Weeks, executive director
