Chill it out, take it slow

THE expressions are part of the lyrics of a pop rock song

entitled, Best of both worlds, as performed by Miley Cyrus. It talks

of a small town girl who enjoys privacy and the status of an ordinary

girl in her school but is a big-time phenom when performing on stage

because of her extraordinary talent. She’s just cool about that

condition.

  

            The expressions can also be applied to what our attitude

should be in these times of uncertainty and suspense due to this

Covid19 pandemic. We are quite aware that we are thrown into an ocean

of mysteries and unknowns, and we are trying our best just to coast

along if only to survive with a certain level of ease and comfort. As

long as we continue to pray and be vigilant, I believe such attitude

is the right thing to have.

            Let’s be careful when we get carried away by our emotions,

usually of fear and anxiety that often are manifestations of our

over-reaction to what we have now. Let’s just take it easy, and as the

song puts it, let’s just “chill it out, take it slow.” Otherwise,

things would just be worse for us.

            Thus, let’s not be rash in our thoughts, words and deeds

in reacting to what we are having now. Let’s restrain ourselves from

giving in to ideas and pieces of information that are thrown to us in

abundance, thanks but no thanks to our modern communication

technologies.

            By now we should already be quite familiar with what are

known as fake news. We should be properly guarded against them. They

can come from different sources.

            We know that there are people out there who, wittingly or

unwittingly, are too focused on pushing their own agenda without due

regard to other views. This usually happens with those with a

political agenda. And there are people who simply come out with wild,

completely baseless assertions, relying more on their biases and

prejudices—yes, even religious biases.

            But before all that, we cannot deny that there are things

that still are up in the air as to their veracity. Like whether the

virus is man-made or is something natural, whether it came from China

or wherever, whether lockdown, ecq, gcq are the right thing to do,

whether we have a real pandemic or a ‘plandemic,’ etc.

            Of course, we should follow the exchanges of views, but

let’s not be rash in making judgments. What we should not forget is

that God is always in control of everything, and that while we have to

do our part, we neither should worry too much nor over-react to the

developments of this crisis.

            Whether we end up right or wrong in our views or positions

about these issues is not as important as whether we are with God or

not in living out these trying times. Yes, we should try our best to

get to the bottom of these issues, but we should never leave God

behind. He is in the middle of all this, and the way we react to it

would show how we are relating ourselves with God.

            So, more than anything else, what is always needed are

prayers, sacrifices, works of mercy and all the other spiritual and

supernatural means that are still made available to us.

            We should try our best to live and act in solidarity with

others, which does not mean that we all have a uniform way of doing

things. Solidarity involves the variety of the subsidiary ways to

serve the common good. Let’s do what we can to help, and let’s do it

in coordination with everyone else.

            So, let’s just chill it out, take it slow. No need to be

tense. We have to learn to smile and ride out this storm. This one

will also pass, just like the previous one, though we are still held

in suspense at the moment.