When I wrote the above we were days into the virus. At the end of April in a country that has shut down due to the rapid spread of the virus, we are climbing towards 1 million cases in 55 jurisdictions, with 46.4 thousand deaths. Ignorance, denial, disregard of sound medical advice, and serious pre-medical conditions continue to drive the numbers upward. There is a push by politicians to reopen the country by mid-May. Selfish ambition, concern over personal investments, and a very arrogant sense of entitlement plunges the country down a dark spiral that bifurcates, trifurcates, quadfurcates infinitum.
In a country of so much privilege and comfort for those in authority who make decisions for the masses, it was not surprising that May came and went and the shutdowns and restraints continued - mostly because no one wanted to be inconvenienced on any level. They did not want their rights violated. (It is amazing that a person so sensitive to rights has no conscious thought of the rights of others that he or she is violating by their self-centered conceitedness.) Scientists warned as much, and when it was determined that something as simple as wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing for a discipline, the president of the United States over and over again debunked the scientific view and led the country into even deeper despair as the number of persons dying grew exponentially, and over a million persons had some form of what was named COVID-19. Hospitals were full; temporary hostels had to be constructed in order to treat the number of persons infected. Medical personnel and hospital employees and all the front-line responders were susceptible to the virus in a mean way, and still they reported to duty because that is what they did, even to treat those who had no regard for others' lives. These front-line workers who were fortunate, could leave their children with a grandparent to minimize the potential for them to be infected, and others had no such choice. People took chances going to parties, or not social distancing, flagrantly disregarding scientific recommendations. Governors of the party of the president demanded that their states reopen and return to 'normal'. Relying on political horsehockey and untruths those governors exposed their states to reckless mandates, some even desiring schools reopen. And those who liked the smell of that koolaid threw caution to the wind never to see it return.
Writing now as we continue through the ninth month of the hijacking of the country by a teeny, tiny, invisible to the human eye organism the United States and Europe is experiencing a next surge of the viral enemy. Hospitals are filling again, temporary hospital units are being constructed (some of the large commercial storage units were converted into temporary ICUs), the number of persons contracting the disease is breaking records of a few months ago. States that early on had low numbers are now among the hardest hit, with even rural areas impacted. United States leadership says there's no truth to the 'rumor' that we are in another surge. They report that the country is ok and that a single day's positivity rate of 84,000 - topping numbers from previous surges -- is inconsequential and should not cause alarm because "it" is going away. Reopened schools and universities where persons travel from all parts of the country to attend a school, and jurisdictions where parents (and the local authorities) demand that the children be sent to schools, and where employers are requiring a 'phased return' to the jobs. Incidents of groups of persons gathering together unmasked, in tight configurations, civil unrest and protests that draw crowds of people, and incidents where some churches and buildings for worship defying the state mandates of gatherings of no more than 10, 25, or 30 persons depending on the size of the building, but instead packing hundreds of persons into buildings and even then where some persons wear no masks within the facility, claimimg to be obeying God (He never said you must meet in a building in order to be legitimate worshipers, and such sideway interpretation of scripture being crafted to satisfy selfish desire, completely ignoring the mandates of scripture in 1 Corinthians 13) - these actions instigate replication of the disease in person to person contact. Even efforts to trace contacts to slow the spread have been met with some opposition as if infection was either an impossibility or to have it is a stigma not to be borne, not to be mentioned - as if one could keep such a disease hidden.
The president boasts that a new vaccine is just around the corner, and is pushing pharmaceutical institutions and scientists to create something that looks like something; the first 'breakthrough' wound up making one of the test patients very sick. The antimask proponents including the president have gotten up close and personal with COVID-19, the president treated 24 hours a day exclusively by governmental experts, calling his infection 'nothing' and that he didn't know what all the fuss was about. That anybody can get over it. Does he not realize how many people had to die before a treatment could be found that was somewhat helpful, and that he was the beneficiary of all of those lives lost where significant numbers of persons had little healthcare resources and underlying conditions because they had been bereft of healthcare due to the jagged pill of a watered down affordable care act where Republicans were holding the firehose. None of those realities entered into his consciousness - out loud. And to boast that his recovery was solely at his will and through his abilities tramples on all those whose lives were smothered by the virus.
Mr. Trump was given his eviction papers. How ironic! The party that failed miserably for millions of persons uprooted by the impact of the pandemic who lost significant help and relief when the divided congress failed to continue the emergency order - even those who believed his lies - these persons lost in the shuffle of the expired emergency order are being served eviction papers left and right. They have no where to live. Some states have emergency funds for those who are in potential danger of losing a roof over their head, but the numbers of people impacted are numerous. Families - what will they do? Now Mr. Trump is among those fighting to stay in his current house after being served an eviction notice from the court of the people who said enough is enough.
To add fuel to an already unchecked situation, the Thanksgiving holiday was met head on by defyers of CDC warnings to stay home, stay distanced. Instead, people packed the airports, rode trains and buses to travel distances to see family. During this unthinkable activity, because it doesn't come dressed in neon lights, the virus traveled too. Now some states are seeing an even more severe rise in cases and hospitalizations. All of those - especially the elderly who were visited or even went visiting their grandchildren that they love and miss - are in danger of the pandemic coming directly to their doors. True love requires sacrifice, but what kind of love sacrifices the well-being of others so that the 'lover' has their feelings satisfied?
What a trap. What a reality. Romans chapter 1 sends a stark message to those who take the pandemic as even greater license to satisfy their selfishness, entitlements, what they feel are their 'rights'. It shows that our choices and actions have consequences whether you believe it or not. That selfishness, self-centered pleasures, arrogance, haughtiness, lust, a fixation on what we don't have will not have pleasant rewards whether you believe it or not. Isaiah 5 shows that the people called by God's name did the same thing about 2800 years ago. They pursued courses of action that damaged themselves, their families, their communities and believed that there wouldn't be any real consequences. Yet they sacrificed their children, trampled on the vulnerable, all to get 'theirs'. They had dictatorial self-focused and self-pleasing leaders and amoral cultural norms. They banked on their national pride, on being El's people, despite their God-hating lifestyles as their surety. What is it they say is a certain sign of mental instability - that you keep on doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result? Hmmm.
