Lessons Covid-19 Taught Me
I wouldn’t be an author if I didn’t search for meaning in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. And meaning is what I found. Covid-19 taught me that:
American people are amazing, when emergency strikes.
Our concern for one another; willingness to sacrifice to serve others; inventiveness, selflessness even exceeds my expectations every day.
The performance of our leadership not so much. A president Is supposed to be the one in position of authority. Not because the president knows everything better than we do, but because – unlike you and I – the president is usually surrounded by top experts in every field. Tough luck, not our president. Our president fired top experts to begin with; claimed that Coronavirus will disappear by itself in April; failed to take any action to protect us in a timely manner and now that it is apparent to everyone that we’re in the midst of the greatest crisis in our history, the president continues lying, shooting from the hip and calling for return to work and life as usual, ASAP.
Of course, when the presumed authority fails, unexpected heroes emerge.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is if not the number one authority figure in the United States today, than a close second to Dr. Fauci. Governor Cuomo’s integrity, honesty and dedication to his constituents has no equal. The information he delivers daily is factual. He doesn’t shirk responsibility. The way he fights to ensure that the needs of New Yorkers are met should be recorded for posterity and taught to school children! This is why we elect officials, so they’d represent us and our interests. Not for a deal, tariff, TV ratings, personal vanity or ill-gotten gain but to serve the community they represent. Not surprisingly, the hashtag #PresidentCuomo is popular. With Andrew Cuomo as president we’d be informed, protected and hopeful. The man deserves a MAJOR public recognition once this crisis is over. (Governor Cuomo’s decisiveness, persistence and courage in the face of crisis put our president to shame!)
I sometimes say in private that America doesn’t recognize its heroes. There are many of them on the frontlines of the disease today. We celebrate some of them and rightfully so. Others are demoted or fired in disgrace. One of the latter is the Captain of Theodore Roosevelt carrier, Brett Crozier who reported a rapid spread of Covid-19 among his crew living in crowded confinement of the ship. I can’t be sure whether he used the “proper” channels to get help. I know that he used a channel that got fast response. His action saved MANY lives. No matter what channel of communication Captain Crozier used, his action was effective and brought help for his crew, quickly. The man deserves recognition (he received standing applause from his soldiers) and a PROMOTION. Who is a captain? The man in charge of a ship AND its crew. It is his responsibility to take care of both, at ANY cost, including sacrificing himself. The definition describes Captain Crozier, EXACTLY. If YOU were a sick marine trapped on Theodore Roosevelt carrier what would you want your captain to do?… I pay my highest respect to Captain Crozier; he embodies the qualities of a GREAT captain and leader. He is a hero. Period. He deserves to know that unlike his superiors, we as a nation are grateful for his bravery and appreciate his sacrifice. (Hopefully, in not too distant future, our government will compensate Captain Crozier for the indignity of his dismissal and officially commend him for his heroism.)
No man is an island.
Your actions affect many. If you fail to keep social distance, wear a face mask or rubber gloves, you endanger your own life AND many others. If you don’t care about your life that’s your business. Putting others at risk isn’t. Be considerate! Just like your actions can harm other people, their actions can put you at risk.
Needless to say, this is an extra-ordinary time. We are all at risk of contracting an untreatable disease. Each of us is only as safe as our own behavior AND the actions of others. To make things more complicated yet, first responders have a shortage of protective gear and many in our own neck of the woods are struggling financially. It is our individual – and collective! – obligation to do our best to help one another.
Carelessness can kill. We all have to act responsibly to help contain the spread of Covid-19; survive and eventually come back to a new “normal”.
(On an unrelated note: there are very few impoverished hospitals, doctors and nurses. Why none of them shopped / shops for essential, protective gear on eBay?! Wouldn’t shopping on eBay be better than putting one’s life at risk?)
Humans are a predatory specie.
The world we created sucks. We are either arrogant and indifferent or outright immoral.
The Coronavirus tragedy highlights issues we don’t usually notice or are unaware of. Populations at highest risk of transmitting Covid-19 in the U.S.: the homeless, prisoners, members of the military, immigrants in detention and the elderly in group homes. Who struggles financially the most? The level of poverty in OUR Country is mind-blowing: there are children who depend on school lunches for survival; there are people who would starve without food banks. Did you REALLY know that?
Outside of the U.S. the groups of people most vulnerable to Covid-19 infection are refugees in refugee camps and victims of war who already go hungry and suffer from diseases of poverty. In several countries, segments of population live in such extreme poverty they don’t have access to media (and consequently, no awareness of the pandemic!) and / or live under conditions that don’t afford them the luxury of social distancing, leave alone staying at home or self-quarantining.
What a picture! Humans as a predatory specie.
We are predatory as individuals: “as long as I’m fine, who cares about you”; “the more I have the better” even if some are drowning in luxury while others go hungry. We follow the one-upmanship model “I’m more than you; I’m better than you”. We worship the ego at the expense of family.
In a family, the needs of the most vulnerable (the youngest, the oldest and / or the disabled) come first. (Can you imagine a family dinner based on… personal income? A family dinner during which some family members get huge portions, some very small portions and some… nothing at all?)
The ego is uncontrolled selfishness. Family is a well-organized interdependence. Family, society and humanity are interdependent collectives. We prefer to believe that they are groups of individuals. The falsehood of this assumption was never more apparent then right now.
We are predatory as people. Our economies are exploitative. Our treatment of the Earth is predatory.
We have little heart or conscience, leave alone appreciation of the concept of oneness. It seems as if we still can’t comprehend that we are all in the same boat; a boat that takes precedence over country, race, nationality, religion and money. Any global disaster has the power to wipe us off altogether, regardless of our real or imagined differences. Covid-19, global warming, global drought, etc. has the power to destroy us all. Coronavirus makes it abundantly clear and yet, we act as if we were alone and separate while in fact no man – and no nation – is an island…..
Why not exploit less and care more?!
To start with, a country in which millions of people – including children! – are starving or homeless or have no health insurance ISN’T rich and definitely shouldn’t call itself “the wealthiest country in the world”. That’s a shame we all share.
How about the working poor? A person working one, two and sometimes even three jobs SHOULDN’T be poor. If such a person is poor, something is very wrong with the political system.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not a communist. I firmly believe that some people earned the right to higher compensation than others. But an income disparity that creates a class of pariahs isn’t a reason to celebrate or call ourselves “the wealthiest country in the world”. As a country and as the world, we are only as healthy, as rich and as educated as the sickest, poorest and least educated among us. Period.
Covid-19 pandemic is a worldwide, humanitarian crisis. Worse, in the midst of it, we’re learning that as people are not as humanitarian as we thought.... Click To Tweet
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For me, the threat of Covid-19 exposed several inconvenient truths. I know that the lessons Covid-19 taught me may not be the lessons you learned. I know that you may not share my conclusions, either. I just hope that my essay inspires your own soul-searching.
Photo by Pille-Riin Priske on Unsplash
