What If We're Far More Generous Than We Know?: Everyday Magic, Day 1,129

It's been a rough time, especially for many who had their SNAP benefits and other supports cut off as well as federal workers who faced 43 days of the shutdown upending their lives. Add to this the shock for people I know when they see how much their health insurance is rising, doubling for many people, and there's good reason to despair, freak out, collapse on the couch in exhaustion, or activate fierce hypervigilance.

At the same time, I've been seeing unprecedented generosity at work and in play. Exhibit A: This photo of a car filled with 150 meal kits, everything from chicken and dumplings to bean and lentil chili. This is the doings of my new Facebook friend, Katie. She also celebrated her birthday by hosting a breakfast for dinner open invitation to everyone she knew. I was so moved by her post and this photo, and just as much by the chain reaction of gratitude and generosity that followed.

This isn't unique to my town. Throughout America, people have been cooking up a storm for newly-to-be-acquainted friends, restaurants and grocery store food bars have been feeding kids for free, food pantries have been filling to the gills, then emptying again, then refilling during the 43 days or so when one out of eight Americans receiving food benefits faced empty cards and cupboards.

Of course, it's not enough and not reaching all those who are hurting, hungry, alone, and in the dark about how to get to the next day or week or month, even if the SNAP benefits are starting up again. Yet in such times, many of us are learning about how hard the barest essentials are for the people across the street or in the basement apartment.

We're also witnessing the angels among us who, when the going gets tough, cook up giant trays of lasagna, like someone who posted on social media today. She invited anyone who was struggling, no matter the reason, to message her for a pasta-luscious delivery.

What if this is who many of us really are or could be, people who would drop everything to make soup for a sick elder or deliver bags of groceries to a family with hungry kids and parents? What if most of us would gladly do just about anything to help each other, even if we don't know who we're helping?

This is not to deny that some of us -- and I could name quite a few right now -- clearly aren't like this. We wouldn't be in this situation in the first or last place if there weren't richly-funded or profiting people pulling the levers of our political system or being pulled to do all the wrong things.

But I want to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and even rejoice in this truth unfolding all around us, maybe within us too. It makes me think of my favorite Carl Sagan quote: “You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you’re not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.”

This is where I put my faith, in coming together, a container of fresh chicken soup in tow, to reach across the emptiness and the brokenness of the world and feed someone.