We ran headlong into
hiding...out of cowardice. Some feared
The Illness, others the stigma or political suicide of not following the
international trend. Nevertheless, we dove in with no real proof that our
measures would actually make a difference (this was NOT the strategy of those
countries who have been most successful in stemming the tide), and we did so
with little regard for how many people we were hurting in our attempt to help
others and, above all, without a sound exit strategy. Actually, we don't even have an UNsound exit
strategy.
In our distorted
belief that when trouble arises, it is the federal government’s duty to DO
SOMETHING to extract us from the pains of life in a broken world, we pined,
harangued, bashed, and begged until they responded...some reluctantly and some
all too readily. They didn't create the
virus, but their response created more problems that they then felt compelled
to fix.
Their “fix” has
strapped us with additional astronomical generational debt. And it’s motivated by politicians' own fear,
greed, and desperate grasps for power and relevance. (I’m not assuming none
have a genuine concern for human well-being, but if they do, their solutions
create nothing more than a short term feeling of well-being...).
Their “fix” also
builds on a foundational assumption that nothing could be worse than an
economic downturn (or implosion). We all know that anything built on a faulty
foundation will not stand the test of time.
The Families First and CARES Acts are fraught with contradictory
initiatives (even the NAMES are intended to manipulate how we feel about these
additional 975 pages of legislation...No really...975 pages. I know this b/c I've read much of it.) They
attempt to sustain small business by offering forgivable loans of 2.5x eight weeks
of payroll if these businesses keep their people on the books - while
simultaneously increasing unemployment benefits by $600/week (which just so
happens to come out to $15/hour...coincidence?
I think not.) In so doing, they
make it impossible for those same small businesses to keep their $10-13/hour folks employed. After all, why
work for $10 when you can NOT work for $15 + a percentage of your lost
wages? The only way to get all these
unemployed folks back to work is for employers to raise their wage to $15/hour.
When will we learn that politics is a world powered by power where
strengthening that grip demands weakening human resolve through magnanimous
acts that erode dignity and fray the fabric of self-reliance?
Side note 1: I have
never understood the hypnotic appeal of raising the minimum wage. The *intent* of shortening the gap between
the wealthy and the not wealthy SOUNDS good, but this legislation results in
the raised price of goods thereby negating any benefit of that
"raise." It doesn't bring the
upper and lower classes closer together.
Only one thing will bridge that gap: changed hearts. Hearts at both ends of the spectrum that shed
their entitlements and care more for one another than for personal rights and
personal prosperity.
Side note 2: Our
debt-based economy is a house of cards that must inevitably topple. When our attempts to artificially prop it up
finally fail, it will be painful - perhaps devastatingly so - but it will
create the possibility for something new founded on principles of creativity
and community rather than excessivity, consumption, and wealth generation. (Don't hear what I'm NOT saying: wealth is
not evil...UNLESS, of course, it is motivated by greed and acquired on the
backs of the oppressed. That's not a
socialistic, anti-capitalist mindset. I
believe it is the economy of the Trinitarian God who shares continually with us
out of his abundance. He shares his
creativity, his counsel, his material wealth, his everything with us. His generosity is fueled by his self-giving
nature, not the acquisition of power over us.
His intent is our flourishing, not our groveling dependence.
Side note 3: It is
perhaps un-American to say so, but I do not believe self-reliance is, in and of
itself, a virtue. The independent spirit
we so admire (and of which I have more than my fair share!) when coupled with
self-focus, becomes insidious. Taking
care of me and mine and the rest of you fend for yourselves, is no more
admirable than sitting idly with hands open, demanding they be filled. Self-reliance, when fueled by the desire not
to burden others with my needs and when
tempered by a desire to generously bolster those whose burden is overly heavy,
both confirms dignity in the self and creates bonds of love in the community. And, I think, reaches toward a truly
Christian idea of communal life.
Side note 4: I am not
an unequivocal apologist for capitalism.
So, while I'm critical of the stay-at-home orders partly because of the
economic implications, it's not because I believe that economic prosperity, as
we view it today, is the ultimate good. Shalom is the ultimate societal
good...but that's a whole other topic! I
also suspect that a complete economic meltdown could lead to a simplification -
a resetting, if you will - of our perceived material needs. It might force an examination of our
priorities, our desires, our wantonness, our way of
devouring-because-we-can. Even though
that is my perspective, I see little wisdom in shutting everything down. Singapore kept life moving while making
strategic, rational, data-based decisions on how to shield the most vulnerable
while keeping the rest of society functioning.
That was a loving approach.
Back to the issue at
hand: Our Response to The Illness.
Our collective
response appears emotional and reactionary.
We are basing our actions on public perception of risk and data that is
skewed by multiple factors, including a very limited data set and our choice to
present the data in the most sensationalized way. We choose # of cases and # of deaths. Why?
Because they present the most terrifying picture that then justifies our
decisions? We could just as easily present
the % of population who have been tested, % of those returning a positive, % of
untested population, % of deaths among those without pre-existing
conditions. We could frame our
presentation with adjustments for population health, adjustments for
lifestyles, etc., etc., etc. We could present
the data in all kinds of ways, but we choose the most dramatic...WHY? To keep people tuned in and to keep them
begging for solutions? Because we're too
lazy to unearth better options? Because
we're not systems thinkers? I don't KNOW
why, so I speculate.
In the meantime, our
reactions have left those who are dying to do so apart from those who love
them. Somehow we protect our healthcare
workers enough to allow them to be in the hospitals day in and day out, but we
cannot protect family members well enough to attend the bedsides of the
dying? I cannot find the sense in this
no matter how hard I try. We are NOT out
of PPE...every day in the grocery store, I see average citizens galore wearing
surgical masks and N95s! How can we not
provide protected means for visits to happen? In an age marked by agility,
creativity, ingenuity...how have we not found a way to dignify the dying with
presence...mere presence??? It's a grievous choice.
Another aspect that
baffles me is our seeming inability to think clearly, even consistently, within
our own declared belief systems. Our flexible
moral compass allows us to pick and choose what we believe according to the
zeitgeist or emotion of the moment. If I
adhere to a survival of the fittest theory, why would I not view this as the
inevitable sloughing off of those too weak to survive? It is nature doing what nature does and
strengthening the human race. Should I
not be at peace with it, instead of panicked by it? If I'm ok with a mother and doctor deciding
which fetal life is worth saving, why am I freaked out about a doctor deciding
which COVID patient does and doesn't get a ventilator? Why is that life decision more weighty in one
situation than the other? How is that
decided? I ask a dozen questions along these lines and across the spectrum of
beliefs...including my own! Are we reacting consistently with our dogma? If not, why not?
And then, of course,
we have a smorgasbord of conspiracy theorists positing how this whole virus was
concocted to enact someone's agenda. I
don't lend credence to any of them (not b/c I think no one is capable of such
heinous acts. History clearly proves
otherwise...I just don't believe that's what has happened here); however, I am
absolutely enough of a cynic to believe that many opportunists have seized this
to advance their personal, corporate, political, religious, or other agenda.
Fearful people are pliable people. And pliable people in the hands of
powerful people can be fashioned into almost any image.
So...what is the
point of this whole rambling rant? I'm
not entirely sure. It's not to imply
that The Illness is nothing. It's not to
be an armchair quarterback suggesting that I know which plays should have been
called. I suppose it's primarily a conversation with myself. It's my way of processing thousands of
swirling thoughts about how we arrived at this place...how we lost the
resilience of our fathers and grandfathers.
(I mean...we've read The Hiding Place, yes? And Unbroken?
And The Long Walk?) How our lives
of ease have made us soft...how our ways of anesthetizing death have made its
horror foreign to us. How the relative
nonchalance with which we navigate, not only our daily lives, but also the
globe, leave us shocked at our sudden immobility...how our running to and fro
makes us kick against the stillness. And
how...HOW...do we bring forth the best of our individual and collective selves
in this strange place we now inhabit?
How do the fearful
understand the stoic? Those who run toward danger with noble resolve understand
those who shrink from it? Those who
shift with agility understand those who stubbornly fight change? Those who believe in the goodness of shared
resources understand those who defend the goodness of autonomy? Those who laugh understand those who
weep?
I suppose
understanding is found first in not fearing one another's perspectives. By listening to and dignifying my fellow
man. By lending credibility to his
thoughts and feelings as arising from his particular experiences (which are
likely different than mine). By speaking
my own position, not from a desire to intimidate or to assert my superiority,
but from a desire to genuinely engage.
By reining in my propensity to judge, to condescend, to berate any
perspective other than my own.
This is hard
work. But it is the hard work of loving
my neighbor...and is that not the great healing balm we all need? Whether our efforts to slow The Illness work
or don't...whether we suffer long and deep or whether some great discovery
springs forth to snuff it out. Whatever
happens, the best salve for our loss, our grief, our anger, our suspicion, our
arrogance, our stubbornness, is really rather mundane - to unbind our fists and
extend our hands to serve and love one another well.
