Healing a broken heart

This personal distancing requirements of the current pandemic seemed to happen overnight. There were no warnings, no indications. It just suddenly seemed to happen. After hot coffee, toast, and jelly, and calls to relatives and a few close friends I was compelled to face the reality of a period of self-isolation from my family unknown to me in my already long lifetime.

During this crisis that has left its footprints throughout the world, and continues to do so, I have lessened its impact by taking my mind to other places, times, and events. I have used a tool that fortunately is readily available at my fingertips. I have picked up something good to read.

I’m proud to say I come from a family of readers. When I and my three brothers, and our sister were reading, and company came, and would ask where we were, our mother’s answer to the inquiry was almost always the same: “Oh, they’re some place with their nose in a book.”

The day we heard the worst news that the world could hear, I looked for something to read to take my mind off the cold reality of a pandemic. It was better than crying. Fortunately, besides my own collection of books, my niece and her mother routinely bring me stacks of magazines. They subscribe to the best. Their subscriptions include National Geographic, The Nature Conservancy, Reminisce, The Good Old Days, Readers Digest, Smithsonian, and a variety of other entertaining and educational magazines. Thanks to them I always have something unread at my disposal.
On that fateful day I selected The Nature Conservancy, and what a great choice it turned out to be. One of their articles was titled The Heart of Appalachia, and it was there where I found insight into how we have inherited the potential ability to perpetuate the wisdom, intelligence, and strength to continue behaving as our forefathers did when faced with adversity. Reading about the mighty Appalachian Mountains I was also reminded of how resilient this landscape has been in weathering centuries of upheaval, and how the people that reside here are equally as durable. Compared to those individuals residing in our nation’s cities we enjoy more wide-open spaces. More elbow room. In a few quiet moments I was able to lose myself into a story that gave me hope and healing of my broken heart.

During my teaching career I taught elementary, high school and college, and one of my greatest joys was sharing with my students the enjoyment of reading. Besides the pure pleasure reading brings it is one of the best tonics for healing bouts of anxiety, disappointments, and human failure. During those years as an educator I found that every student had a chosen list of books considered their favorites. My personal list of books that never disappoint include To Kill a Mockingbird, Great Expectations, Animal Farm, Brave New World and Call of the Wild. How about your list? Everyone has their own personal taste and my hope would be that you could also rapidly name at least five that you would not only recommend to another but readily read again.

Whether it’s a book or an article from some other type of publication I believe what W. Somerset Maugham said to be true: “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends: They are the most accessible and wisest of counselors and the most patient of teachers.” Charles W Eliot