Change of Pace

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The pandemic had forced this woman to slow her life down drastically.

Before, she’d travelled around every month for work, never stopping, working hard because she cared about her job.

The slower pace created by social distancing had reminded her to cherish everything that life had to offer outside of work.

She thought that though society would eventually speed back up again, the increased awareness of social injustice would not fade away.

She could see that widespread personal and collective change had been allowed to grow in the absence of regular social functioning, and she had a cautious optimism that this would not stop as society returned to its previous hyper-productive state.

Listener Poet Beck Klassen

Veterans' Affairs Center for Development & Civic Engagement

August 2020

We hurtled through life at incredible speeds

And thought that this wasn’t a choice, but a need

The world was a whirlwind before this ordeal

It’s tragic, but it has helped me see what’s real

We’ve settled, but we’ll pick it all up again

Dive back into work like there’s no other end

But I’m wondering - hoping - and almost believing

That a world of injustice we’ll also be leaving

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