COVID-19 Update, Stories & Learning From Home Tips – Anderson Connect

In this week’s Anderson Connect, we will be sharing the following, hope you enjoy!

• COVID-19 Update
• 2 Short Stories
• Studying/Working from home tips

COVID-19 Update – We know that you are tired

After more than one year of shutdown, we know you are tired.  World Health Organization Director-General Tedros said: “Working from home, children being schooled remotely and not being able to celebrate milestones with friends and family, it’s tough and the COVID-19 fatigue is real.”

But please do not give up, we simply cannot. With vaccines on the way, we know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s remind ourselves and our loved ones to continue to be vigilant.

A provincewide Stay-at-Home order will be put into effect as of Thursday April 8th at 12:01am. Everyone is strongly advised to continue to stay at home, avoid social gatherings, minimize travel, and limit close contact to their household.

Short Stories

The Foolishness of Clinging

The little boy walked slowly into the room where his mother was sitting at her desk writing. She glanced down at him and saw that he was carrying a very precious vase that her grandmother had given her. Almost absentmindedly she said to him, “Robert, go put the vase down before you drop it and break it.”

“I can’t,” he replied, “I can’t get my hand out.”

“Of course you can,” she said, “you got your hand down there in the first place.”

He said, “I know, mom, but it won’t come out.” The neck of the vase was very narrow and his hand had fit it neatly inside and it was now up to his wrist. He continued to insist that he could not get it out. Growing a little concerned, his mother called out to his dad.

His dad calmly took control and began gently pulling the arm trying to extract the hand from the vase. He tried loosening it up with soapy water. Still nothing. He then got some vegetable oil from the kitchen and poured it around the wrist and let it seep into the vase. He wiggled it some. It still did not budge.

“I give up,” the dad said in desperation. “I’d give a dollar right now to know how to get it out.”

“Really?” little Robert exclaimed. Then they heard a clinking sound and his hand slid right out of the vase. They turned the vase upside down and a penny plopped out. “What’s this?” they said in unison.

“Oh, that’s the penny I put inside. I wanted to get it out, so I was clutching it in my hand. But when I heard Dad say he would give a dollar to have the vase free, I let go.”

Moral of the story: we often do cling to things when they are nothing in comparison to what could be ours.

The Two Pebbles

Many years ago in a small town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and grumpy, fancied the merchant’s beautiful daughter, so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant’s debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But, if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the merchant’s garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag.

The girl put her hand into the bag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.
“Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

Sometimes it is necessary to think out of the box or, in this case, out of the bag.

Moral of the story: Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we do not attempt to think in that direction.

Studying/Working from home tips

While we all continue to study and work from home to keep ourselves and other safe, it is important to take some time to acknowledge that this is not always easy. We encourage you to take some time to make sure you are looking after your mental and physical health during this time.

Take a look at this helpful video that identifies key challenges and helpful tips for studying/working from home.