Our Better Angels

Our biggest fears are now up close and personal. The invisible enemy walks among us. We will pass through this pandemic in many different ways. Health care workers will carry on with compassion and conviction, in many cases without the help of proper gear or proper testing. Teachers will find a way to teach. Students will find a way to learn. We will all find ways to feed our children.

Vindication has come to those who have pleaded with capitalism to be more humane as many move closer to economic ruin. Medicare for all, a living wage, rehabilitation not incarceration, and ending the barbaric treatment of refugees are all ideals that are finding a way to our lips.

And while polls still show a country divided along political lines, how long can we as a people survive in the wake of so much uncertainty and unrest?

The emperor has no clothes. And the king’s men are unwilling to tell him. Both sides.

What is left? We must find ways to care for each other and ourselves as if our lives depend upon it; because in fact, they do.  We must reinvigorate our communities in whatever ways we can.

How we engage today will determine tomorrow’s course. Some will arrogantly dismiss the warning for social distancing and will bring harm to many. Some will succumb to paralyzing fear and require comforting.  Those who do fall ill will give us the opportunity to be brave, empathetic, and human. And the ones who will not make it through will remind us of the precious and fleeting moment that life holds.

This is going to take every one of us and all that we have to give. It is going to take our courage, our stamina and our love.

Our better angels are being summoned. Do not stand in their way.