Someone had the bright idea to string up their Christmas lights and the idea is going viral. All across America, people are encouraging the trend. Coronavirus has officially infected every one of our fifty states. While American’s accept the need to be stuck in their homes to keep the virus from spreading, they don’t have to get depressed over it. They’re turning our famous ingenuity toward positive solutions.
A bright and colorful solution
Just when things in America started seeming bleak and dreary, some families are spreading hope and cheer instead of germs. They’re putting up their Christmas lights and rallying others to do the same. One person even suggested, “we could have a red white and blue theme instead of Christmas.”
As CNN writes, the idea is “that twinkling, colorful lights will lift spirits during these dark times. And it doubles as a social distancing activity: people can admire the lights from the safety of their own homes or cars.”
Credit for the initial idea seems to go to a 10-year-old boy in Cumberland, Rhode Island. “Can we turn the Christmas lights on? I want something to look at,” asked the son of Holly and Mike Griffin. They said sure, and decided that they would keep them up for the duration of the crisis.
If he wasn’t the one who came up with the bright idea, Lane Grindle was responsible for getting it off the ground. The Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster posted a tweet noting, “What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.”
What if we all put our Christmas lights back up? Then we could get in the car and drive around and look at them. That seems like a fair social distancing activity.
— Lane Grindle (@lanegrindle) March 15, 2020
An enthusiastic response
“Now more than ever is a time to be looking outside yourself,” Griffin points out. “I think taking our mental health seriously is really important and just hearing bad news all the time can really make that multiply.”
After posting their results on social media, they got replies from all over the country. Dozens, CNN reports, “responded with enthusiasm, with a couple even posting photos of the lights on in their front yard.”
Kids are out of school and most parents are either working from home or laid off entirely. There are plans in the works to put out two waves of stimulus checks direct to taxpayers to take a little of the financial edge off.
For now, families can enjoy some quality time together. “Times are dark and there’s light to be spread,” Holly Griffin says. One Louisiana resident “put her Christmas lights up at 1 a.m. after reading about it, and shared it with others in her community.”
Even though she admits “the lights are a small gesture,” Griffin “hopes that when first responders, grocery store workers and pharmacists drive by that it might bring a smile to their face.” It’s the right prescription for our troubled times. “It’s the little things we can do to feel connected.”
