Memphis Ghostown, but ‘The King’ is not dead!

It’s hard to put into words the emotions that everyone must be feeling at the moment. What an unbelievable time we are living through! With international borders closing, and international flights becoming almost non-existent, we’ve been asked if we are going back to Australia. We considered it, but if we were to go home now we would have no jobs, no home, no school, and no heath insurance. Whilst we’re obviously concerned about the inability to get home if we needed to, for now we’re bunkering down and riding out this storm from Memphis. The kids are set up with homeschooling, we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and we are fortunate that my husband’s job is considered ‘essential’, for the moment anyway.

You know it’s a pretty dire situation when the Churches are closed to Mass here in the ‘Bible Belt’. In this area, there is a much greater acceptance that it is all in ‘God’s Great Plan’, and that prayer is what is needed now. Although also difficult to get toilet paper here, it’s felt relatively calm in Memphis. I’ve been wondering if people’s faith in the Church has had something to do with this. Interestingly, I see Bernard Salt (Australian Social Commentator) has written about this exact thing on LinkedIn and The Weekend Australian:

“In the past we placed our faith in God who promised a better life in the next life. Far fewer Australians today have even this small (and some say flawed) comfort. Godlessness is all very well in good times, but in times of great worry and fear it could be said that it is a lost community asset. This is all part of a broader narrative: we no longer trust the Church, the political class or big business.”

There are messages of hope and positivity to be found everywhere amongst the darkness. I enjoyed listening to Eckhart Tolle (Spiritual Teacher) today with his special message recognising the immense challenges we are currently facing as a collective, and advice on how to stop the fear consuming you. It’s well worth a listen if you need something calming, deep thinking and meditative for 21 minutes - I listened while folding the laundry! Here is the link:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-A7Db3AOH4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Kenny Rogers. ‘The Gambler’ is an old favourite and as I listened to it again, I realised it was quite apt for today’s quarantine world. The song is about how we live our lives, the chances and risks we take everyday, and about not getting caught up in where you’ve been or where you’re going at the expense of missing what’s in front of you right now. It felt like his parting message - embrace the now and appreciate what you have. Have a listen:

https://youtu.be/7hx4gdlfamo

I’ve also been drawn to listening to The Doors ‘Riders on the Storm’, another favourite blast from the past. I think it’s about life being unpredictable and out of our control, and that we’re just a small part of a largely chaotic universe where we should truly live for now as we don’t know when death is coming. Have a listen here:

https://youtu.be/7G2-FPlvY58

It’s a strange time indeed, and I’m hopeful that I can share some positivity in what is a very difficult time for many. Whether that be through photography, music, or spiritual teachings, hopefully it will be of some healing benefit to someone. Strangely, I’ve never felt so excited to photograph empty shelves as I did last Sunday! But hey, this is HISTORY! We may never again in our lifetime get to see an event of this magnitude that affects the whole globe. I’m excited to start some research on my next blog post around this, but in the meantime, I wanted to see how the Memphis attractions were affected. As I thought, it’s pretty much a ghost town.