A Pandemic Cost A Child Could Bear

It should be obvious to all that both the Global and United States economies are going to take a massive, unimaginable and devastating 'hit' as the result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Currently, we are told that the United States alone will realize a nearly 8-trillion dollar setback and that does not factor in the unpredictable time of the pandemic's end.

There is another untold catastrophe playing out amid these unprecedented times and that is the mental and emotional cost to human life. Depression and anxiety are reported extremely high and fear of an increase in suicides worry health officials. On a personal note, I wonder about the negative or perhaps at minimum the compromised personality development, the altered self-worth assurance and the underdevelopment of interpersonal empathy in our very young. I watch the faces of my great grandchildren ages six and two who see not smiling, encouraging faces of adults, which aides in the aforementioned  desirable traits but instead they see 'masked' faces and hear muffled sounds. As a young boy, I felt and saw love throughout my journey. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors exuded smiling and assuring expressions, which anchored a warm feeling of belonging, security and love. Today's health crisis with uncertain social interaction and the obvious sensed tension and anxiety exhibited in modeling-adults manifests in to subliminal negative messages to be processed by the developing child from which the consequential impact is yet to be determined.

Today, if families gather at all they practice masking and social distancing. The grandchild on the knee of grandpa is a no-no. The sit down 'tea party' with Nana and a great granddaughter is not happening. The once many healthy social interactions of our lifetime are put on hold...but at what  cost to the developing child?

If I've learned anything, I've learned that 'LOVE' is the most powerful and essential emotional feeling and expression that stabilizes an other wise unstable world. It is said that time heals all hurt, pain and loss. I maintain that it is not time but 'LOVE' that heals. It must be modeled without parameters.