SUNDAY MORNING THOUGHTS

It appears that when the coronavirus arrived on our shores, both from China and Italy it found us unprepared and lacking in necessary social and political foundations. Those underlying conditions – corrupt politicians, a moribund bureaucracy, a soulless economy, a tribal population distracted by social media – was ruthlessly exploited by the virus.

Before it’s arrival we –already  worn down by constant presidential misdeeds and meandering leadership – had retreated inwardly. However, now the scale and proximity of the pandemic has exposed the severity of our passive acceptance of “it is what it is, wait until November.”

Covid 19 has shocked us into the recognition that social interaction only puts us in a high risk category.

This crisis required leadership that responded swiftly, comprehensively, and rationally. Instead our reaction was that of third world country without medical infrastructure, led by corrupt and stupid leaders, who had no skill to mitigate the inevitable mass suffering and loss. Opportunities were squandered by the President that simply resorted to scapegoating, boasting, and lying. Medical leadership and scientific expertise were dismissed or politicized.

Now each morning starts with the latest statistics of infections, hospitalizations, and death. We are on our own deciding to either shut down our lives or remain blissfully ignorant contemplating conspiracy theories.

Doctors, nurses, and support staff were are made  desperate and ineffective by the lack of essential medical supplies. The stalled response was further by corporate greed. The humanitarian aid that America so proudly gave to distressed countries was now reversed as the United Nations now provided aid to a dysfunctional democracy. Our country is now in utter chaos unable to deal with this national emergency.

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

Personally, I am emotionally numb. I feel like a bit role character in a science fiction novel about the social collapse of society. I am depressed by thoughts of dying alone in a hallway hospital in the state of blame without the comfort of loved ones. Harsh, scary,but not totally unlikely.

But wait, I am writing this, and you are reading it. Congratulations! We are both alive and if that is not a good thing that I don’t know what is.