Ruth is a vivacious energetic hard working young lady. She works at her parents shop that has been with their family for the past 40 years. She’s in her third year of college majoring in engineering. Unfortunately, like so many others, her world got turned upside down when the Coronavirus hit this past year.
It all started when she got sent home from school early and had to finish her semester online. She is a very outgoing person and really needs her face to face interaction. While she didn’t want to go home, she understood it. Sadly, when she got home she got to see first hand her father and mother begin to struggle as their business was shut down due to the lockdown. She complained to her friends that bigger national chains were allowed to stay open but her parents store was forced to be closed. Some of her friends told her that it was better to be safe and that she should look to the common good. She didn’t agree. They didn’t like that . She lost those friends.
Then, June hit. As an African American woman she was outraged at what had happened to George Floyd. She had a lifetime of hearing about “Driving While Black” and what to do if you get pulled over and never thought it was fair. She joined a few protests. She had a few friends who didn’t agree with the BLM movement (granted, they didn’t say it to her face, but she knew). She lost those friends.
Then, the protests turned to riots. Many businesses were destroyed. There were businesses just like her parents, just like her parents, destroyed. They were already locked down and now, burned down. This was not ok. Her friends that she used to protest with said that, “it was all for the cause.” She disagreed. She lost more friends.
As the summer went on things almost got back to “normal.” It was then that her grandmother got the virus and died. An employee in her grandmother’s apartment complex wasn’t feeling well, went to work anyhow, and didn’t wear a mask. “Why doesn’t everyone just wear a mask?” she complained on social media and to anyone that would listen. She lost her anti-mask friends.
Then, the election came. She couldn’t vote for Trump/Pence as they downplayed the virus too much in her eyes. Biden/Harris weren’t an option either as they only paid lip service to causes she cared about. Her conservative friends stopped talking to her. Her liberal friends were livid. She lost friends on both sides.
One Sunday she sat a church and wondered if there was anyone she could talk to. There was the lady that was pro business, pro mask, but was all about politics. There was the other woman who would never talk politics, walked with her in the peaceful protests, but never wears a mask and rolls her eyes when people do. In every situation, she knew all about people’s stances and causes and how passionate they were about them. She fit into some of some of their beliefs, but never all. It was only a matter of time before she would lose their friendship too.
Ruth is alone.
It’s a shame that no one was pro love, pro acceptance, pro…Ruth. Everyone loved Ruth on their terms. No one loved Ruth for Ruth.
**The names and situations above have not been altered because they were not real in the first place. It’s just a shame that they very well could be real and are an example of how our causes can separate us. Live your life in such a way that Ruth knows that you are there for and love her whether she agrees with you or not**