The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Although it may feel like it, this is probably not the beginning of the apocalypse. What it should be, however, is a wake-up call.

Every time there's a crisis we get the same set of stories: The kind-hearted souls on the front lines /giving generously / making sacrifices to help others; the disbelievers and conspiracy theorists; and the people who callously take advantage of others' misfortune.

But this is different. Some have likened the COVID-19 pandemic to a war. But no one alive today has fought a war on U.S. soil. Most of us don't know about sheltering in place and rationing appropriately. And we don't do marshal law and social restrictions.

Image from knowledge.insead.edu

It's what makes us the dream to achieve, and the real-world nightmare we are right now.

Our country has certainly taken its image hits. With so much Americanism infiltrating the globe it only makes sense there's schadenfreude when we slip and fall.

But do we have to be so...American about all this?

My chief point of contention is the US v. THEM mentality:

• Trump's characterization of this as a "foreign" or "Chinese" virus, like it has citizenship and a passport. 
• The "I'll get mine and everyone else can fend for themselves" hoarding mentality at our already-overstocked grocery and warehouse stores. 
• Here on Maui, the online comments following every article about the spread of the virus: the only cases are from travelers, ban everyone from coming to the islands.
• The abhorrent "Boomer remover" mentality. Other nations are much more respectful to their elders, and rightly so. Some day, young Americans, you, too, will be old. (Unless, of course, you insist on partying during a pandemic and contract, say, a potentially lethal virus.)

I'm not here to offer a solution. In reality, I don't think there is anything to be "fixed." Some of these traits are inherent to humans no matter where they are. Yet we are who we are--love us or hate us--because we live in a country that speaks up and acts and has the freedom to do so loudly and often.

But we can be better. We can use our power for better.

Some are. Like I said, there are plenty of heartwarming stories about people just being people. There are stores setting aside hours for the age group most vulnerable to this virus to shop in relative safety, with fewer people around. There are folks in my neighborhood volunteering to run errands for others or just talk to them so they're not alone in their isolation.

That's humans, in a nutshell. We are the good. We are the bad. We are the ugly.

This is the latest pandemic, but it won't be the last. This virus doesn't care about borders. It has us shutting in and shutting down and shutting out, but that won't stop climate change water rise and future adaptive illnesses.

One day we'll open the doors to look for help and find ourselves alone.

Now is our chance to band together in our isolation. We may not be giving balcony concerts like the Italians, but we have other ways to give back and bond with each other. We have the choice to be a distributed community instead of colonies of soloists.

The alternative? After the next few pandemics or disasters or global events, or the next, we humans will end up as a footnote.