Coming together while staying apart

Although my job is based in London, right now, during the Covid19 crisis I am with my wife and daughters in my home country, Hungary.

As in many other countries, Easter in Hungary is one of the most significant holidays of the year. Traditional festivities include húsvéti sonka (roasted Easter ham), fonott kalács (braided sweet bread), beautifully decorated eggs (húsvéti tojásokat), and húsvéti locsolkodás (celebratory ‘sprinkling’ of water or perfume on the hair of female family members and friends). It’s a time that brings together extended families, some of whom rarely see each other at all during the rest of the year.

Of course, this year will be different. Easter, Passover, Ramadan, Vaishaki—for celebrations all around the world, this year will be different.

While the physical separation that’s required of all of us right now is indeed hard, I just want to take a moment to remind everyone that physical distancing does not mean social distancing. Thanks to human ingenuity we have technology today which, in some ways, makes us better able to cope with the challenges facing us now than at any other time in history.

So please, if there are loved ones you hoped to see this time of year but can’t due to the need for physical distancing, give them a phone call, a Skype, an email or even just a text. It will mean more than you think. Being separated together is infinitely better than being separated alone.

Both virtually and in person, I plan to do our traditional húsvéti locsolkodás (Easter sprinkling), and I hope I will get beautifully decorated húsvéti tojásokat (Easter eggs) in return.

And finally, I’m sure there is at least someone reading this who has already lost a family member or friend to this disease. Along with my deepest condolences, I can only say this—in a time of loss, it’s all the more important to reach out to our loved ones. We can give each other strength, even when separated.

Thank you for reading.

István