Roy Exum: The COVID Love Notes

  • Wednesday, August 25, 2021
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Every day and every night in Hamilton County, a small cadre of critical care nurses ventures forth to serve in the intensive care units in Chattanooga’s hospitals. Equally another crowd rejoins the fight against COVID in our emergency rooms as floor nurses tending to the very sick who can’t find room in the ICUs but who are every bit as noble and as brave as our Infectious Disease physicians themselves.
 
But just as a majority of our COVID patients are dismissed, our front-liners are irreplaceable.
They are all tired, near exhaustion. And this week, when I read that some of these troopers feel unappreciated and all but overlooked in the daily pressure cookers, I came up with a simple way some of us who know these men and women nurses could bombard them with the gratitude of strangers.
 
Nothing on social media can touch a handwritten note that comes in the mail. What if some of us got a sheet of stamps, some simple index cards and blank envelopes and sent them a series of notes: “Hang in there – you are loved” and “What you do to the least of these you do unto Me,” and “Keep on keeping on, kid.”
 
Don’t know any of these angels? Write a COVID patient instead. Call around to some churches, or the hospitals. They share names.  Heck, address it to “The Shortest ICU nurse on the night shift.” Loving people is easy. It is more fun to be “an anonymous provider” but if you have a personal relationship, by all means identify yourself. Send a pile to Surgical ICU, the ER nurses lounge.
 
Let’s just let them know we care.
 
Here’s your bonus if you ain’t too wordy. Several months ago Sofia Stewart, a writer on Your Tango.com, compiled a list of encouraging one-liners to share in the coronavirus pandemic. If you mailed just one of the 50 for what, every day for nearly two months, think of the domino effect it might have among our weary and downtrodden.
 
Think of what one of these simple gems might have in your husband’s coat pocket, on your freshman daughter’s pillow, or to a recent widower. The big thing is to make sure you rally our COVID front-liners who are treating a lot of those we love … WITH LOVE.
 
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50 GREAT LINES TO ENCOURAGE OUR COVID NURSES AND STAFFS
 
(Complied by Sofia Steward of YourTango.com)
 
1. THE THREE B’S: “Wake up, be kind, be amazing, be grateful, repeat.”
2. There's a lot of fear in the world right now — don't let it grab ahold of you. "Never let your fear decide your fate."
3. Choose to be happy in quarantine. “"Happiness is a conscious choice."
4. Everything will be okay. "Don't worry, be happy."— Bobby McFerrin
5. The change will always come with challenges. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.”
6. Being boring is never okay. “You didn’t wake up today to be mediocre.”
7. Our journey through life is like kidney stones. “This too shall pass."
8. You can be the reason for someone’s tomorrow. “Be someone who makes someone else look forward to tomorrow.”
9. Laughter is the best medicine. “Life is better when you’re laughing.”
10.  You’re tough. “Life is tough my darling, but so are you.”
11. Think positively and good things will happen. "What you think, you become."
12. Action speaks louder than words. “Well done is better than well said.” —Ben Franklin
13. Put on the right pants. “Put on your positive pants.”
14. It’s all about perspective. “One day or day one. You decide.”
15. We don't know what will happen next with coronavirus, so take things slow. "Taking it one day at a time."
16. Keep your eye on the prize and use this time to work on yourself. “Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams."
17. It’s cheesy but it works. “It’s a good day to have a good day.”
18. Look at each day with a new set of eyes. “Every morning we are born again." — Buddha
19. Use your time at home in quarantine to learn as much as you can. “The wisest mind has something yet to learn." — George Sanayana
20. How do you know something’s worth it? “You are enough."
21. Only one rule when it comes to love things. “Fall in love with as many things as possible.”
22. The best analogy to life. “Being an adult is like folding a fitted sheet. No one really knows how.”
23. It’s important to have a good tribe. “Your vibe attracts your tribe.”
24. Be smart with your life decisions. “Do one thing every day that scares you." — Mary Schmich
25. Let your yesterday be jealous. “Make today so awesome, that yesterday gets jealous.”
26. Failure always leads to success. "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." —Thomas Edison
27. Never give up on your dreams. "When you cease to dream you cease to live." —Malcolm Forbes
28. Reach for something new and exciting (and a little scary). "A goal should scare you a little and excite you a lot." — Joe Vitale
29. There's a difference between living and existing. "May you live every day of your life." —Jonathan Swift
30. Don't let others tear you down. "Put on your positive pants."
31. Greatness starts with failure. “Failure is another stepping stone to greatness." —Oprah Winfrey
32. Spend your time wisely. “"It's the same life, whether you spend it crying or laughing."
33. Bruce Lee gives the best advice. "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." — Bruce Lee
34. Sometimes getting through hell is the only way. “If you're going through hell, keep going." — Winston Churchill
35. Be anything but ordinary, and you won't be replaced. “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." — Coco Chanel
36. Even the hard days have blessings. "What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise." — Oscar Wilde
37. If you don't try then you already lose. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take." — Wayne Gretzky
38. Our success speaks enough. "The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success." — Bruce Feirstein
39. It takes rain to make a rainbow. "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." — Dolly Parton
40.  Don't wait around, make your own best day ever. "Create your own sunshine."
41. Life reveals its beauty in time. "The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes." — Frank Lloyd Wright
42. Now's a better time than ever to rest and work on yourself. "Rest and be thankful."
43. First, believe before you take any action. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them." —Michael Jordan
44. Start with yourself. "Happiness is an inside job."
45. This time is just another opportunity for something great. "Trust the timing of your life."
46. It's okay to feel sad or scared. You will overcome it. "There's bravery in being soft."
47. Keep your mind in the right place. "Positive mind. Positive vibes. Positive life."
48. Exhaust your resources. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." —Arthur Ashe
49. Small things sometimes matter the most. “Do small things with great love." — Mother Teresa
50. We will rise again, better than we were before. "We fall. We break. We fail. But then we rise, we heal, we overcome."
 
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