Candles of Hope for the Coronavirus

When I was a kid we called them chain letters.  They were handwritten, had to be hand-delivered or taken to the post office and usually instilled some type of fear if you didn't keep them going.

Tonight I received my first chain letter via WhatsApp.  Unfortunately, there's no time for the letter to be handwritten, hand-delivered or taken to the post office. But there's still fear. It's not a fear that refusing to send the letter to ten people ensures that something bad will happen to you.  It's the fear that something bad has already happened and we don't know what else to do. 

I'll try to translate the message as accurately as possible.  And if it doesn't move you the way it moved me, the reason could be that it's a lousy translation.  But it could also be that you have no idea how it feels to be living in Italy with the Coronavirus.

Tonight let's all, and I mean all, from north to south,  light a candle in the window to illuminate this dark moment of hope and to tell all of the sick, and the doctors and nurses that are fighting on the front line that we are all united and with our dedication and commitment we will make it!!!!!
Pass it on.

Andra' tutto bene.

This is probably more of a city thing and it would make quite an impression to see a whole town lit up.  No cars have passed my house in the last five hours.  But I lit my candle, put it on my windowsill and sent the chain letter to my neighbor.  Four minutes later she wrote, "Can you see it?" Yes, I could see it and I cried and sent the chain letter to a lot more than just ten friends.

Whoever you are and wherever you are, I hope you never have to light a candle.  But if you do, I hope you'll pass it on.