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Time

My mind has been thinking about time and how it seems to be different now with all of what is happening. First there is COVID-19 and our stay-in-place semi-lockdown.  For those who have full-time jobs, and even for those who don't, we schedule things around moments in time.  Our lives are routine-based:  when we get up, when we eat, when we work, when we have time for family, when we have time to ourselves, when we sleep, etc.  When our routines are disrupted, many of us feel out of sorts or even lost.  What happened?  Why is this happening?  When is it (routine) coming back?  I've heard that there are many Americans who find it difficult to take a vacation, a real vacation of a week or two, because it takes them away from their work for too long.  As we are gradually allowed to come back to our former lives before COVID-19, perhaps we will have a better sense of time, our old time.  But then again, maybe time will never be the same.
     George Floyd was killed senselessly and cruelly by a police officer who pressed his knee to his throat for about 8 minutes and 46 seconds.  A young woman bravely took a video of the horrible act.  The eyes of the police officer and her met.  Time must have seemed to stopped or slow down. In that short time, the life of a Black man was taken.  No more time for George Floyd to be with his family and friends on this physical Earth.  No more time for hugs and kisses and laughter and no time for serious and silly things to do for George Floyd. Time has stopped for George Floyd, at least for his physical body and what it meant to others.
     As a Spiritualist, I believe in the afterlife and that our souls and spirit continue in a nonphysical dimension. And I also know that my beliefs would give little comfort to the friends and family of George Floyd.  My gut feeling and hope is that the life of George Floyd will be long remembered and talked about.  That we will continue to have discussions about what his life meant and means in the context of our greater community, the world of people, where everyone should be valued equal to everyone else and deserve respect and dignity. There have been too many racial killings and too much hatred to sustain us as a nation of "liberty and justice for all."  We must act and change so that this does not happen again.  This time must be different.  This time, we must use the time afforded to us to heal and correct and amend who we are. We must change time.  We must create a routine of love and understanding that we don't dare depart from.  I feel confident that George Floyd in the timeless abode of God's love will be looking down as us to see how we are using our time.

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