Parents, I wouldn’t touch you with a six foot pole. On our houseboat we had a docking stick it was designed to assist when docking a boat or helping another boat tie up to yours. You could push the boat away if it was getting too close and it had a hook to pull the boat closer until you could tie it with a rope. You could even use it to keep an annoying sibling at bay, hypothetically of course. This stick was also called a “barge pole.” A barge pole was about 10 feet long, though ours was a bit shorter. There was an expression that supposedly originated during an epidemic many years ago. If someone appeared to be sick, people would say, “I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole” or a “10 foot pole.” There was a college close to mine that had a strict “6 inch rule” for men and women on campus. I was amused that you could be “written up” for sitting or walking closer than 6 inches to someone of the opposite sex. Reportedly, school officials would actually come with a ruler to measure and make sure you were far enough apart. Who knew even six inches would be five and a half feet too close to those around you during this pandemic. Apparently now we no longer have poles and rulers to keep us apart, just signs, tape and stickers on the ground to keep a 6 foot perimeter and directional signs in the grocery store to keep us from infecting one another. If someone without a mask comes down the same shopping aisle and gets too close, my plan is to loudly clear my throat, to send a warning shot over the bow. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go straight to the big guns and break out into a full fledged fake coughing fit… my guess is they will clear right out. I get it, we all need boundaries, and personal space. However, we are social beings and we are desperate for belonging and connection. For health and safety we need enough space to stay safe from an airborne virus, for which we have no immunity, but socially we need the interaction. Digital connection, driveway connections, and distance socializing seem to be the only safe ways to connect right now.
The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Because we love each other and try to protect each other from possible infection, we have had to get in the habit of “not meeting together” in person, and it means we will have to be more diligent in encouraging one another from a distance. This belonging and connection part of our faith is too important to neglect while we are physically apart. There will be a time, at some point, when we can get back together, but for now it looks like we may be meeting together with a six foot pole. Who knew that the words, “I wouldn’t touch you with a six foot pole” would actually be terms of endearment. We will have to continue to find creative ways to safely “encourage one another” today. Call, facetime, Zoom, send delivery, or like Mrs. Doubtfire do a “driveby fruiting” or drop off some flowers, ring the bell and run away. Love and encourage creatively people! Like Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, “Happy trails to you, until we meet again... keep smilin’ until then.”
Hang in there people! God is with us! I’m praying for you all!
