We are watching Ken Burn's Jazz Series on PBS. I enjoy music, but am not a musician and don't have much of an ear. My singing should be only in the shower. What has struck me about the series is the ongoing improvisation that is Jazz. It started with Louie Armstrong in New Orleans, Duke Ellington in NYC, and Count Basie and eventually Charlie Parker in Kansas City. It is a story of race--the creative and improvising black musicians inspiring the whites and then the black artists take it a step further. The younger black musicians advancing the art form.

Improvisation is what is required right now. It's a lot like figuring out how to make lemonade out of lemons.

My heart and prayers have been in Gaza and the West Bank these last weeks. Many of my West Bank family medicine colleagues have been busy posting on social media. It was painful to watch the pain and destruction in Gaza and in their own communities at the checkpoints and in villages close to the Settlements. Those on the West Bank were very worried about those in Gaza. My colleagues are quick to inform me that most US news outlets covered the events poorly. They prefer The Nation, Democracy Now and Israel's news outlet Haaretz.

However, one colleague sent me this Time magazine article. A Palestinian Doctor’s Account of Life Under Israeli Bombardment in Gaza -- these lines caught my eye: "Two days after the cease-fire began, we went to the beach: me, my sister and her children. Despite the fear and pain caused by these events, we still want to go out and have a good time and recover." And the final line: "I think people here are really fighters, just to be able to keep on living."

Keep on living, rearrange the musical notes and find a different way of playing them, make lemonade. COVID Chronicles was about resilience, how to keep moving forward during impossibly difficult times. The recent review at Self-Publishers Weekly emphasized that.

The other reality is that the young are better at innovation. Now that I have gray hair I recognize the gift of youth. The younger jazz musicians pushed the music to the next level of creative interpretation. I see that with students as well. Recently, I did a talk for Jeff Borkan's Primary Care Population Health Masters group. The students' fresh eyes, energy and perspectives are needed as we tackle our broken health care system, where insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and large health systems reaped the largest benefits from the US government COVID relief packages. And finally, the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown sponsored a teach in about the Palestinian perspective showcasing the next generation of leaders. So if you are feeling disheartened, take note.

There is always a light at the end of the tunnel and Summer is around the corner. Surround yourself with youth and find the child in your own heart and be creative--Improvise!