With the radical ways of being moving and changing so drastically because of Covid-19, we are drawn to ponder the question: “To Zoom or NOT to Zoom?”
In my own personal experience of connecting with people, I have found that Zoom is right now the new “normal” for connecting with family, friends, organizations.
Just recently (Sept. 17th) I had the privilege to host a Zoom call with 45 participants all across Canada to be engaged with an Indigenous helper and knowledge keeper on her experience of “The Impact of Residential Schools”.
We literally “zoomed in” on her personal experience and engaged in the experience by expressing how we were affected by what was heard.
I was on the de-briefing residential schools’ Zoom call with a few people when Jean came in and joined in this small gathering as we were de-briefing. Jean shared what she experienced in Jeff Thistle’s presentation, and we shared our experience of the circle Zoom call that had just ended. We connected through and because of two Zoom calls that had been experienced at the same time, both involving relationships between Indigenous and non Indigenous peoples.
I share this by way of indicating how Zoom has made it possible for people to truly connect across geographic, cultural, and social lines.
We, Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, experienced this in our recent beginning of Chapter 2020. The conversations we had were respectful, well-paced, and came from deep reflection. Kudos to the many Sisters who have learned how to Zoom!
It seems to be one of the effective ways of linking people together when the world seems to be falling apart. What the world needs now is truly effective ways of communicating involving sight and sound if possible.
So if you are asking yourself, “to Zoom or not to Zoom?” I highly recommend it for connecting with your families, friends, reflection groups, community members…and possibly at unexpected levels of depth.
-Sister Kathleen Lichti, CSJ