Our descendants will remember that in March of last year, a great and pervasive sadness seemed to envelop the world in a way we have never seen.

With threats of cataclysmic illness, governmental officials brought an end to daily life as we know it. Stores were closed, bars shut, and playgrounds were empty of children. Schools closed. Many churches went along with the threats, and for the first time in history, Easter was cancelled in huge swaths of the world. Christians from Japan to Denmark to Nebraska did not celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

And it’s hard to overstate the magnitude of what happened. Never before – not in over 2,000 years – had Christians been forced to stay away from this observance.

People are not made to live by themselves. The book of Genesis records God saying that it was not good for Adam to be alone, and so God made a wife for that first man, and we have been together ever since.

But many were alone for months are a time, some only seeing family, and some seeing no one but their own mirrored reflection.

And many were afraid. Afraid to see grandchildren. Afraid to see a doctor even when they knew something was seriously wrong. Afraid to meet those friends and companions and neighbors they loved.

Chronic illness was exacerbated. Suicides increased. Depression hung over many lives like an enormous fog.

And now a year and a half later, the fog seems to be lifting, if only a little. We are reminded of Winston Churchill’s remark, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

But even as stores are open, and bars see happy crowds, and churches welcome God’s people, the sadness lingers. The fog is perhaps disipating, it may be easier to see the road ahead, but there is still a fear, still a tentativeness to our lives.

So where do we go from here? There were some who were not ever afraid but even for them, the contagion of gloom affected their lives. But at least those people are likely living, enjoying family and friends and work and play, and traveling as they can. And that is a great start, because these people must lead the way out of this shadow into the bright light of life.

Most of those who were terrified were not in a real sense at fault. Many of them are people who trust authority, who thought that those governmental officials had their best interests at heart. And many of those same people are afraid. Afraid especially of sticking out, of standing up to tyranny, of being different from everyone else.

Where do we go from here? Those who are truly alive are the ones who were bold, courageous, and sometimes obnoxious in the last year. And now is not the time to give up that courage.

Like the philosopher in Plato’s cave story, the courageous have a job to do: to help the cave dwellers see reality. Sometimes it will be by way of explanation but often not. Most of helping to bring the world out of the horror of the last year will be by showing others how to live, and that is usually best done by living a life without fear, living a full, open, and authentic life. Many of the fearful are still afraid, still tentative, still worried lest another shoe drop, and the fog come back. They are starting to realize the sad knowledge that many of them have wasted well over a year of their lives. They are starting to see glimpses of the good that life brings, the authentic joys, loves, happinesses, and sometimes disappointments, but realizing that life spent in cowardly paths is no life at all.

If your heart is full of courage, you can truly change the world. Be as gentle as you can with the fearful, as strong as you can for children, as compassionate as you can with those who have regrets.

But above all, live. Live fully, live strongly, and be the very embodiment of courage and power. You were born for this time. Bear that calling proudly.