Don’t open your eyes; it’s not necessary; it’s better this way. Stay calm and relaxed; just let me be with you for a few minutes.
I snuck in among the syringes and clutter on the nurses’ cart.
Who am I? Don’t worry about that. I am whoever you choose. Place my words on the lips of the person you most want to have by your side right now. Listen to their voice, sense their fragrance, their closeness, their affection, their company.
Now, without opening your eyes, embrace them; isn’t that feeling wonderful? Feel how their presence fills you with strength, courage, and joy. The cold, the loneliness, and the pain have faded away.
In this very moment, for you, for me, and for all humanity, everything centers on one goal: to live!
I think we had forgotten that. We believed it was no longer that important. I think we suddenly started confusing the great miracle of living with the mere act of existing.
Focus all your strength, your hopes, and your faith on that one great goal: simply to live.
Out there, everything is on pause. Just like you, we were all forced to make a complete stop in that dizzying whirlwind where we tumbled along without the slightest time or space to truly live.
Out there, many people ask about you and worry because they don’t see you. And it’s just that sometimes we’re not even aware of the people around us, and we see them as mere shadows, obstacles, or just part of the scenery.
Your family, your friends, your coworkers, the guy at the taco stand, your neighbors, the bill collectors, your grumpy bosses and teachers… they’ve finally realized that each of us is irreplaceable and that we deserve more time, care, and attention than the trivial needs that have been replacing what’s truly meaningful.
Out there, everyone is waiting for you with hearts full of love and affection. With faces eager to give you a smile, a compliment, a word of encouragement, things they’ve rarely done before.
Out there, everyone extends their arms, ready to hold you tight the moment they see you return. You can’t imagine how much they want to give you a strong handshake, a firm pat on the back, and to cover your forehead and cheeks with affectionate kisses.
Would you like to send them something? If you want, I can deliver it for you.
I’ll take away all this loneliness that burdens you, this uncertainty that weighs you down; I’ll exchange it for a commitment to closeness and solidarity with your family, coworkers, and closest friends, whom you may have slightly overlooked, and who now realize the importance of mutual affection in a sincere relationship.
I’ll take away the cold and silence that make you shiver in this room; all of that will be replaced by warm greetings, loud laughter, heartfelt embraces, loving words, words of encouragement, and warm company with all the people in our surroundings; be they acquaintances, strangers, close or distant, alike or different.
I’ll take away all this heavy air that refuses to fill your lungs and oxygenate your whole body. I’ll show it out there so that we all value the importance of that simple yet miraculous act: breathing.
For everyone, it’s free. A true gift from the Giver of life that almost no one thanks anymore. And if that weren’t enough, we poison this simple element on which our lives depend with our excesses and unchecked ambitions.
What’s truly important and valuable is being shown to all humanity at this moment. There is still much to do in this dimension. I believe now more than ever, civilization must rethink its goals and priorities.
This is definitely not the end; this is the grand moment. The moment to love, to fight, to live, to change, to improve. We are in the midst of a battle; this is your moment to overcome, to show your worth, and to return as soon as possible to those who love you and whom you love so dearly.
Very soon, just as you cross the door of this hospital, you will see that your efforts will be crowned by showing you a totally transformed humanity so that social distancing and confinement, the censorship of kisses and hugs, the interference of sanitizer and masks in our relationships, become just part of a dark night that is about to be illuminated by the brightness of brave fighters who, in a hospital bed or around it, are about to win this battle.
