The smaller lessons of the pandemic

Also: In Ukraine, "Never again" is now [View in browser](    [❤️]( March 13, 2022 Dear Cog reader, Last week, I devoured Kathryn Schulz’s "[Lost & Found]( her book about grieving her father’s death and falling in love. I was particularly captivated by the final section, an ode to the conjunction connecting her sorrow and joy: “And.” Schulz writes that we rarely experience things — events, feelings, even thoughts — in isolation. “We live with … many things at once — everything connected to its opposite, everything connected to everything.” Schulz’s exploration of these ideas is timely. In the past two years, we’ve all lived with the tragedies, large and small, of the pandemic and we’ve continued onward, experiencing happiness and connection. I’ve often considered this a contradiction: Despite the pandemic, I’ve found deep joy in nature with my son. But Schulz reminds us that this is how we’ve always lived, in this tangle of experiences, because love is inseparable from grief. Eileen McNamara’s [essay]( this week about the wildlife that appears outside her country home echoes similar ideas. In the gloom of the early pandemic, McNamara discovered that sightings of owls, bears and bobcats were “inoculation enough against isolation and despair.” Also this week, writer Samantha Joseph [remembersÂ]( to Ukraine before the current war, and the attachments – loving and painful –that bound her to that part of the world. Thank you for reading, Kathleen Burge Editor [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [The smaller lessons of the pandemic]( There are so many big lessons we have learned during two years living and dying with COVID-19, writes Eileen McNamara. But there have been smaller lessons, too, no less important. [Read more.]( [The smaller lessons of the pandemic]( There are so many big lessons we have learned during two years living and dying with COVID-19, writes Eileen McNamara. But there have been smaller lessons, too, no less important. [Read more.]( [In Ukraine, ‘Never again’ is now]( I could never have imagined that Russian soldiers would one day kill Ukrainian civilians near the graves of Holocaust victims, writes Samantha Joseph. [Read more.]( [In Ukraine, ‘Never again’ is now]( I could never have imagined that Russian soldiers would one day kill Ukrainian civilians near the graves of Holocaust victims, writes Samantha Joseph. [Read more.]( [Forcing my COVID patients to die alone is inhumane — and unnecessary]( My patients and their families say goodbye on video screens, writes Helen T. D'Couto. Hands reach out to each other, millimeters apart on the tablet but cruelly, never able to touch. [Read more.]( [Forcing my COVID patients to die alone is inhumane — and unnecessary]( My patients and their families say goodbye on video screens, writes Helen T. D'Couto. Hands reach out to each other, millimeters apart on the tablet but cruelly, never able to touch. [Read more.]( [Why doctors like me are leaving medicine]( Caroline Stowell quit medicine before the pandemic. But the burnout and pressure that caused her to walk away are worse now than ever before. [Read more.]( [Why doctors like me are leaving medicine]( Caroline Stowell quit medicine before the pandemic. But the burnout and pressure that caused her to walk away are worse now than ever before. [Read more.]( [Shocked by gas prices? Here's why you shouldn't be]( Americans have gotten used to cheap gas, which doesn’t reflect the true cost of its consumption to society, writes Frederick Hewett in this commentary for Cognoscenti. [Read more.]( [Shocked by gas prices? Here's why you shouldn't be]( Americans have gotten used to cheap gas, which doesn’t reflect the true cost of its consumption to society, writes Frederick Hewett in this commentary for Cognoscenti. [Read more.]( Need a nugget of joy sent to your inbox each afternoon? Our[pop-up newsletter]( is devoted to doing just that every weekday through the month on March. Think of it like a cheery postcard — except in your email inbox. [Sign up here!]( What We're Reading "In sermons, commencement speeches, and national myths, people constantly hear tales of triumphing over adversity, but the pandemic’s story has withheld that positive resolution and refused to end, let alone end well." "[Our Brains Want the Story of the Pandemic to Be Something It Isn’t]( The Atlantic. "[A] big part of me misses learning from home with my family nearby." "[Sleep, serenity, and other reasons I still miss remote learning]( Chalkbeat. "Is there anyone who is not happier when the sun sets at 7, 8, or even later, rather than when it goes down while you’re still out at work or planted at your desk. Anyone?" "[We’ve been through a lot. Don’t we deserve daylight saving time all year long?]( The Boston Globe. "I could never have imagined that Russian soldiers would one day kill Ukrainian civilians near the graves of Holocaust victims." — Samantha Joseph, "[In Ukraine, ‘Never again’ is now]( ICYMI [For Paul, 'everyone mattered': Colleagues and friends remember Paul Farmer, in their own words]( From WBUR's Cognoscenti: Dr. Paul Farmer died last week at 62. More than a dozen of his friends and colleagues share their most memorable stories, reflecting on his life and legacy. [Read more.]( [For Paul, 'everyone mattered': Colleagues and friends remember Paul Farmer, in their own words]( From WBUR's Cognoscenti: Dr. Paul Farmer died last week at 62. More than a dozen of his friends and colleagues share their most memorable stories, reflecting on his life and legacy. [Read more.]( If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2022 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.