PANDEMIC PONDERING - Excerpts from the 2020 Journal
(Continued from page 4)
There is the work of pleasure and the work of necessity. To all the healthcare workers, working out of necessity to save us from extinction, I say thank you. I am so ashamed of what we have done to you by not being prepared for this pandemic. It is the same thing we have done to our teachers; putting them in classrooms with our children, underprepared and underpaid. When we do not provide them with resources, they are forced to spend their own limited money. Our failure to provide masks and PPE and then asking you to repeatedly wear the same protection is criminal. The failure of humankind to head the warnings and then honor its social commitments is now our downfall.
Many days I have been able to keep my eyes on the wonders of the world outside. Two days ago the rain flushed the sunshine out of my veins and I felt sadness for all those without: money, healthcare, safety, homes, jobs, and now lives.
Fear, it has been said, "is the mind-killer." The irrational behavior of those who want to shun norms and the rules put in place to survive this pandemic can be traced to the top echelons of our government. It is not hard to see this if you recall how much they wanted an "outsider." If we live long enough to read the history of this time we will be able trace the systematic deconstruction of the institutions built to care for us.
The lack of empathy right now, makes the arrogance of individuals palpable. The lack of clarity creates fear that in turn shuts down our rational minds and makes us slaves to doubt and anxiety. One wonders about intentionality during this pandemic, or if it is by shear coincidence, it has become the vehicle for the collapse of American society. Oh, to be clear, the embers of hate, misogyny, and racism have been stoked for a long time. What is another catastrophic failure of leadership?