“We remember.”
Across the country, religious groups and community organizations, artists and activists, neighbors remembering neighbors, families mourning family are creating COVID-19 memorials.
Some memorials display wooden crosses, some contain paper butterflies, others incorporate videos and photographs.
White flags surround a church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
American flags fill a lawn in Grafton, Massachusetts.
Green ribbons line a fence outside a home in Vancouver, Washington.
And in Anna Maria Feb. 16, colorful ribbons tied to a cord were stretched along the beach near the Sandbar Restaurant. The ribbons numbered more than 29,000 and represented the number of Floridians who’ve died of COVID-19 in the past year.
At about 11 a.m. that day, islanders and others gathered — in masks and socially distanced — to raise the ribbon of ribbons and reflect on the lives lost and the push through the coronavirus pandemic. Many of them wore buttons with “We Remember.”
Wind whistled in the microphone, sometimes drowning out the words from memorial creator Cathy Tobias and others.
But the raising of the COVID-19 Memorial in Anna Maria was not about words.
Waves crashed at the shore.
Sunlight pushed through clouds.
We faced the Gulf, lifted our arms and looked skyward — not to follow the drone documenting the moment but to stand on the shore for 10 minutes and find solace, peace and even joy.
On a ribbon, with a black marker, I wrote “Jane J,” for a friend of the family who died late last year of COVID-19.
“We remember.”
I realized, as I let go of my section of ribbons, how often I go to the beach and turn to the Gulf to find solace, peace and joy.
Studies and science help to document the power of nature for mental and physical healing, especially during a crisis, and we’re in the midst of a crisis.
Have you heard of a “sense of coherence” score?
SOC comprises the triad of meaningfulness — finding a sense of meaning, recognizing and understanding stress and feeling equipped to cope.
A new study published in Public Health in Practice shows that regularly taking a walk in nature can lead to a higher sense of coherence.
Another study, published in November 2020 in the journal Ecological Applications, focuses on greenspace and suggests that nature near one’s home can help mitigate some of the negative mental health effects of the pandemic.
A survey of 3,000 adults in in Tokyo quantified the link between five mental-health outcomes — depression, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem and loneliness — and two measures of nature experiences — and the frequency of greenspace use and green views through windows.
More frequent visits in nature and the existence of “green” window views from the home were associated with increased levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction and subjective happiness, as well as decreased levels of depression and loneliness.
Other new studies confirm that during the coronavirus crisis, more people have ventured into nature, experienced the outdoors.
For one project, University of Vermont researchers surveyed visitors to 25 parks and natural areas.
As public health protocols — including social distancing and travel restrictions — were introduced, nearly 70% of park users increased their visits to local nature.
About 81% said these areas held increased importance for them.
The most common reasons for visiting natural areas? Getting outside, exercise, connecting to nature and finding peace and quiet.
Researchers found that 66% of people used natural areas to find peace and quiet and 32% as spaces for contemplation.
Back to the beach.