EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 20, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― As I sit at home, writing articles for LifeSiteNews, I have to say I miss the gym.
Like so many other people around the world, I’m practising social distancing, which in my case means sticking close to home as much as possible, going only to the local supermarket and going for walks instead of spin classes. Exercise is necessary to body and mind, as fighting for the cause of life in a hostile world over the web is both sedentary and stressful. So although I’m not going to the gym, I’m also praying that the gym is still in business by the time I go downtown again.
Right now so many businesses are fighting for their lives. So far I’ve written two emails to my favorite café and our favorite special-occasion restaurant asking how we can support them without dropping by. The café suggested I buy bags of their parent company’s coffee online. I suggested to the restaurant that they start a delivery service. To paraphrase what I said to the café manager, I can’t imagine Edinburgh without them.
I don’t want to give you the impression that my husband and I dine out every month, but it seems that we have landed on a number of mailing lists over the years. So far I have received appeals from a Polish restaurant in London and a French restaurant in Edinburgh to come and eat a meal or at least buy a gift certificate. They say they’ve removed a third of the tables and they’re cleaning more than ever … These are local treasures, well-reviewed, veteran institutions. Will they be there in three months?
Will everybody at LifeSiteNews be here in three months?
It’s a gloomy question, but we’ve hit gloomy times. Last night I went to the last public Mass permitted by the Scottish Bishops for goodness knows how long. Never in my life have I imagined that I might not be able to go to Sunday Mass because the Bishops themselves had told priests to shut the doors. When I was a kid I thought maybe the Communists would invade and Catholics would have to go underground, but this pandemic was a contingency I never mentally prepared for. Although I love Mass, I guess I took it for granted it would always be there.
We can’t take for granted that anything or anyone will always be there, and there are so many people I want to support right now. My Latin Mass priest. The crazy-fun instructors at my gym. The mother-and-daughter beauticians who just opened a salon on my street. The Argentinian staff at the steakhouse where my husband and I had his birthday dinner. The friendly American kid who started the café.
I’m going to continue to support them as much as I can. The thing is, I’m scared of spending any money right now. My husband, now working at home, is employed for a charity, too. I’m almost tempted to regret dropping out of my government job all those years ago.
But we’re trusting in God, and I’m trusting in LifeSiteNews’ readers to support your favorite media team, the way that I’m going to support the local community that I love. I’m proud and happy that I get to fight for life and freedom every day, especially as I see powerful people use the coronavirus epidemic to advance the culture of death, most recently with the outrageous pro-abortion legislation in New Zealand.
I’m also grateful that I’m part of such a great, faith-filled team and that every workday we have the opportunity to pray together for each other, for our readers and allies, for our critics, and for those in most need of conversion. The coronavirus pandemic and the loss to so many of us of public worship has only inspired us to pray harder and to work harder to get out the truth to our readers, ensuring that you get the news you won’t easily find anywhere else. For some reason, the BBC was not as quick as we were to break the news of President Trump’s backing of a coronavirus treatment that has proven successful.
Thanks to your support, both our team and our outreach have grown so much, and with your continued support, we can continue our work fighting the culture of death to restore a culture of life.
We’re all afraid of what the pandemic will do, but the cause of life must be fought. In a world that is so desperate for hope, I ask you to consider making a regular contribution to our daily battle to change the world.
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