Relephant Read: Here’s how we get through This. {Updated} ~ Waylon 

I came across this video while I was doing exactly what I assume the rest of the world has been doing lately—checking for updates on the looming Coronavirus.

This pandemic has become an equivalent evil to he who must not be named (hint: that’s Voldemort). We walk through the empty aisles of our community grocery store, hard-pressed to make eye contact, with the thinnest veil of calm cloaked over ourselves.

The video is a spoof on the virus, and switches the original lyrics to the 90s song “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia, for silly ones.

At first, I didn’t know how I felt about the instant hit. I didn’t know how to process the sight of Hong Kong local Kathy Mak dancing around and singing so…flippantly. It seemed counterintuitive to make light of something that quite literally plagues our world. Honestly, at first, I didn’t want to share this video. It seemed insensitive; there is so much destruction, so much fear, and so much unchecked information.

But, I realized something as I watched more of the video—I was laughing. I was relaxed.

This video isn’t a lack of respect, it’s a lifeline. It’s an avenue for healing and recovery. She was using humor as a direct opposition to the heaviness we are all feeling.

I felt my own fear and overwhelm dissipate as each quirky moment of the charade passed.

Call it genius, or call it a coping mechanism, I am on the side of humor today.