Living with all the troubling effects of the pandemic — social distancing, the toll on health care workers, the anguish for the sick and the economic fallout — retired Navy veteran Robert Bott of Lewiston says there's no doubt it can test your faith. But Bott, who is Catholic, says he and his wife have found comfort in online prayer groups, and he's trying to make the most of the time they have to spend together:
“It's been rather disheartening. It kind of makes you sad, a little bit. So what we do is we walk up and down our street every day and get a little bit of exercise and try to stay in and stay safe. I think that we're more together now as a family, even my daughter who lives in Gardiner, we speak almost every day now. We have more time on our hands to take care of the things we should be taking care of.
“It could be very detrimental to me if I got it, because I have diabetes and I have a heart condition. So it's kind of scary.
“I worry about people not conforming to the proper distancing because it's for their own good. And I think that I don't want to lose any of my friends or family because of this pandemic.
“I've seen a lot more religious posts on Facebook since this happened — people asking for blessings and prayers. That's the good part of it. It's causing people to get back to their faith and be more faithful.”
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