By Lady Words Contributor
Maybe the only way America will defeat Covid-19 will be by force, not military, but something much more fundamental. If two of the institutions that American’s wave as flags of our freedoms were to turn their mighty weight on those making funding and policy decisions, maybe the pressure would come to bear. If our foundation of high-quality health care and public education were to crack, then what?
While we are not one voice, the dominant voice in current American discourse is one of such death-grip entitlement to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” that the implicit social contract that comes with living in a republic, has been broken. As “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” exists today, those things are to be delivered to an individual with no complete transaction of helping fellow Americans achieve the same. Americans are demanding total liberty at the cost of other American’s lives. By attending gatherings against the advice of multiple scientific bodies, our country is, incredibly, degrading its fellowship.
The comfort with these lawful and enacted choices to convene across the nation blooms from the confidence that these behaviors will not derail our undeniable American journey to Greatness, again. Toward this goal of Greatness exist two marquee systems: top-tier medical care (for those who pay), and free education of our nation’s youth (available to all, though distributed inequitably).
Come mid-August, after the light beer buzz of our BBQ and beach parties has worn off, we will eagerly look to our in-boxes for those school supply lists we love to hate. We feel entitled to send our children into classrooms with other children and teachers. These teachers have never been paid enough and definitely are not adequately compensated now. Teachers complete training for and accept jobs to impart knowledge at grade-level appropriateness. They have not been trained to teach in a post-nuclear cloud of virus. They cannot be asked or expected to keep our children safe when we, ourselves, have not undertaken this effort.
- Photo by Ashkan Forouzani
Medical professionals are being pushed to the brink of exhaustion and sanity. As this essay is written, 56 hospital ICU’s in Florida have hit capacity. California, the state originally tossing its hair over its shoulder with successfully strict shutdown policies, now shows record high hospitalizations. From coast to coast, the United States is in what looks like a statistical free-fall with cases surpassing a breathtaking 3 million. Medical workers have suffered under a perplexing lack of PPE and testing. Medical professionals in this, the most prosperous and thriving nation ever, did not sign up to work in a war-zone scenario where medical supplies are missing and broken, and doctors are expected to outfit themselves and their staff in homemade PPE from raincoats, scuba gear, and welding equipment. They cannot be asked or expected to keep us safe if we, ourselves, have not undertaken this effort.
Consider the tried and true parenting strategy of “natural consequences” and extrapolate its implications on our population of virus-deniers. If the medical care goes dark and the teachers don’t show, will our population continue to act with impunity? Will we continue to attend 300-person church services, crowded bars, and family reunions if we know that the doctors will not tend to us in two weeks and the teachers will not take in our children come mid-August? Will the state and federal governments step in with funding and policies to finally get the spread under control?
A flaw in this is that these two professions, possibly more than any other, take their responsibilities deeply to heart. These professions are predicated on abiding care for fellow humans. A walk-out for medical workers and teachers is extreme, but what’s new in the time of pandemic? This may sound like mayhem and large-scale harm but what else is already happening and to what end? These suggestions are alarming but are they more-so than the potential for years of intermittent shelter-in-place?
Lady Words 