Michal Bonell's Holiday Message

As I look into the New Year, it’s difficult to put my thoughts and emotions into words, so I will use writings that express my feelings:

“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. 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.” — Sonya Renee Taylor, author

“Nor should we long to…at least not the normal that means white collar work is viewed as important, and blue-collar or ‘unskilled’ work is viewed as somehow not-essential …The normal that means some skin colors…some body shapes…some gender expressions are more valuable than others…We should not long to return to a world of redlining, and generational poverty, and food deserts. … We should not long to return to a world of inadequate health care, and predatory loans, and a frayed social safety net. We should not long to return to a world of unbridled consumption, and peak oil, melting glaciers, rising oceans, and polluted air and water. …We should not long to return to a world of hate, mass shootings, and violence. We should not long to return to a world where the claim is always that these problems are too big, too complex, and too intractable to do anything about.” — All Saints Parish in Brookline, Mass.

Michal Bonell is a senior account manager for the Atlanta Jewish Times.