I HEAR YOU

April 4, 2020, Saturday

The words, "I hear you" are often used to confirm that you're really listening and paying attention to what someone else is telling you. It doesn't mean anything about poor audio quality. It's parallel to "I see what you're saying" which doesn't have anything to do with physical eye-sight.

If you celebrate Palm Sunday tomorrow, you may know that it's also called "Passion Sunday" because the story of Jesus' arrest, trial, and inditement is read. One theme of the story is "obedience", Jesus' obedience to be crucified. I'm not writing this to initiate a theological discussion, but the concept of obedience has been on my mind a lot these days.

The word, "obey" comes from the same root as the word "audio" and it literally means "to hear" with the same inference as its meaning in "I hear you": listen, pay attention, comply with.

We live on Stanford University land near undeveloped hills that are also owned by the university. There are popular hiking trails, open to the public, on this private land. There are certain rules for hikers to obey, and since the onset of the corona virus pandemic, a new rule has been added: stay at least six feet away from other hikers. The trails have now been closed, much to the dismay of many hikers who use the trails for daily exercise. The reason is the "persistent failure of a minority of hikers to follow the six foot distance rule." A few hikers --- according to one regular hiker, some mostly male, mostly millennium hikers who walk three abrest and refuse to give way to on-coming hikers --- have spoiled it for everyone else.

We're all living under new rules. They disrupt our usual routines sometimes severely. None of them are really difficult to follow, but they won't be effective against the spread of the virus unless we all obey them. You've heard them over and over. Without the details, exceptions, and nuances, they are:

1. Wash your hands
2.  Stay home

Do you hear me?