Compassion with a twist of statues coming down.

COVID- 19 “The Rona Era”

Today is my first run of the week. Monday I was too tired and I was recovering from Sunday. Sunday was I day that I relaxed and stopped and my body and mind were so thankful. I need to do more of that. I had plenty of rest Monday night, so today I was ready to hit the pavement.

Summer is coming. I heard birds chirping away at 4 something this morning. Massachusetts is now in Phrase II of reopening. Now there is more traffic and more people out and about. At 5:45 a.m. it was 57 degrees, super sunny and super busy with people. People were going to work, walking, and running. This morning I ran 3.13 miles downtown. I ran from the Boston Gardens to the North End and by the Aquarium.

Running in the North End( also known as little Italy) , I run through Christoper Columbus Park. There use to be a statue of him in the park. The statue was beheaded and the rest of the statue was removed.

I know the old Italians in the neighborhood were pissed. The question to think about is: who has the power to construct a narrative, a story. Whose story is told and becomes normalized. Christoper Columbus did not “ discover” America and the sexual and racial assault that was allowed to happen gets buried in the happy, positive, “good narrative.”

Then when I looked up , there were words such as compassion and hope around the statue. That can take on various meanings. This was a thoughtful beyond a 5k a.m. Tuesday run.

I’ll be curious to see if other statues comes down or if there will be different narratives to stories from the voices and perspectives that get buried.