COVID19: March 17, 2020 - The Worst & the Best

Times like these bring out the worst and the best in people. I find myself alternating between anger and tears. 

There are those who insist that the virus is a hoax or that it has nothing to do with them. They go about their normal routines; some even flaunt their defiance for all of us to see, cramming themselves into dance clubs, posting pictures of the crowds on Twitter. It sickens me. 

I suppose there are always those who think that they’re free to do whatever they darn well please, and nobody can tell them what they can and can’t do. Like people who think it’s okay to privately own a weapon of war just because nobody has a right to tell them they can’t. It’s a mentality that I will never understand. No one, in the name of personal freedom, has the right to endanger the lives of others. That's not the way freedom operates. It's the way a sociopath operates.

Then there are those who look at this as a time to become the best versions of themselves. All day long I hear from church members and friends who are seeking ways to reach out to people who are most vulnerable to COVID19 and the those who are most affected by it: the homeless, parents who need help with their children while they work, the unemployed who suddenly can’t pay their rent, people suffering with depression and anxiety, those who are running out of food. So many people are not only concerned with protecting themselves, but they’re doing all they can to protect others. Several times a day, I just break down and cry from the beauty of it all.

Perhaps the thing that has brought me to tears more than anything else is the way the vast majority of people are caring for the larger community by socially distancing themselves from others. Today is St. Patrick's Day and there are no parades. Anywhere. Not even in Ireland! Everyone seems to have bought into the idea of slowing down the spread of the illness. Flattening the curve, is the way we understand it. The only way that will happen is if we all do our part. And people are actually doing it! I imagine it was like this during WWII when everyone was doing their part for the war effort, whether overseas or here at home. It feels like that same kind of patriotism. But this is a little different, because we’re engaged in a war against an enemy that the whole world is facing together. Yes, when I see empty schools and churches and shopping malls, it makes me want to weep. I never could have imagined we were capable of so much love.