The sanctuary we build

The word sanctuary is almost always connected with religion, but its basic meaning in the Oxford dictionary is worth pondering these days: "a place of refuge or safety."

Amid the current health crisis, it seems a long, uphill climb to find much refuge or safety, especially if you're an essential worker on the front lines every day. Both of those qualities can seem elusive among so many unknowns. However, many people have found those feelings through each other's support over the last few weeks. And, though we find ourselves physically separated, sometimes even from close relatives, those reassuring feelings seem to have staying power.

As a community, we've seen a number of instances of neighbor helping neighbor, from new volunteers stepping up to help nonprofits, to people calling others they may not even know, to ask how they're doing. These connections are proof of a refuge among us, a kind of safety that community forms together through our innate goodness as people.

In an interview earlier this week, Rabbi Ilene Haigh, of Congregation Shir Shalom in Woodstock, provided the quote that inspired this editorial. She recalled a quote from the Bible, "Make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among you." She connected that to the online services, which have been such a source of love and togetherness: "We're able to make that sanctuary virtually, there's no barrier."

Hopefully any seeming barriers between people will either weaken or fall, as a result of this crisis. Take a look at one or two statistics about the COVID-19 outbreak, and the challenge is clearly a daunting one. For example, in a telephone town hall that Vermont's congressional delegation held with Vermonters on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Peter Welch noted that Vermont had 400 claims one week, which catapulted to a towering 17,000 claims the next. On Friday, the good people at the Vermont Department of Labor were working their way through a mountain of over 40,000 unemployment claims, as those numbers kept growing with layoffs adding up around the state.

However, there was also much hope offered at the town hall, and in closing, Welch said it was "pretty inspiring" how Vermonters were helping each other out, everywhere.

"So often, the first question is, 'How can I help other people?'" he said.

As we move forward together, present challenges may increase for a time, and other new ones will show up, but the state seems poised to see itself through this great challenge. And with the region and the country seeing a similar pattern of support, we stand a good chance of emerging from this stronger as a nation.

- Gareth Henderson