Physical distance vs. Social distance

There is a question whether “physical distancing” should be used instead of “social distancing” to describe the measures we need to undertake to help curb the spread of the Corona virus. While this teacher of Psychology of Language prefers the former because using it makes it clearer to people the specific behavior that this concept entails, I also cannot discard the usefulness of the latter term when trying to understand what being away and apart from others can do to our inner emotional world.

 My family was attending the 6 PM online mass last Sunday. We were projecting the Mass on our living room wall so that the large image of the celebration helped us imagine that we were inside the church! Suddenly, we heard a loud voice from outside our house saying, "Pow, laksan mo ang volume"!  We were surprised to see my sister and her assistant looking in through our windows but behind the wall separating our houses. Apparently, they had realized that the online mass was better seen and heard on the big screen compared to their mobile phones!

So it was a comforting thought that even if we were physically separated by distance, we were still all together in spirit! And even in isolation, we can reach out to others in any way that we can to show them that we are in solidarity with those who are suffering and those who are helping fight this war. May we be guided by God in opening ourselves to do “quiet acts of service”!

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