Now is the Test
By Albert B. Kelly
In this exhausting and dizzying time, that throwaway line
from the Wizard of Oz is now a constant refrain in my ears, “Toto, I’ve a
feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”. So it is in the age of Covid-19. As it
was for a handful of generations before us, this crisis will define us in
multiple ways but more importantly; this crisis will determine whether or not
our system of government, our way of life, and our national self-image can
survive in the way we need it to.
In China, in order to slow the spread of this virus, an
authoritarian government imposed a lock-down on its population with all the
subtlety of a whack to the back of the head with a baseball bat. What remains
to be seen here is whether or not we will voluntarily do what is necessary, for
as long as necessary, to bend the curve on this pandemic or whether our government
will need its own baseball bat.
In some ways we’re not off to a good start. I’m thinking now
of the handful of senators including Richard Burr of North Carolina, Dianne
Feinstein of California, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Kelly Loeffler of
Georgia who got their private “senator briefings” about the coming pandemic in late
January and early February and their first move was not to warn us or sponsor
bills to protect us, but to quietly cash out and dump stocks they knew would
take a hit.
In the case of Loeffler, whose hubby is the chairman of the
NYSE, she quickly bought stock in a company that provides teleworking software
so she could make her money off the pandemic. How senatorial of her. In the
case of Burr, he was saying one thing in private about how bad things were
going to get while downplaying the severity in public until late February. As
for Feinstein, her husband was making similar moves to protect their portfolio,
but she swears it was a blind trust and simply a lucky coincidence that he
dumped the stocks that he did. No collusion, no collusion.
Meanwhile, away from the hallowed halls of D.C., we got
treated to the assemblage of young ne’er-do-wells romping on the beach for
spring break in spite of warnings from authorities. One such youth in Miami was
heard to say, "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm
not going to let it stop me from partying," It’s even money as to whether
he meant the virus and the beer. Most of us would be fine with that attitude if
the consequences were confined to the knucklehead who holds it, but it doesn’t
work that way, at least not with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finally, we’re left to confront the fact that some national
leaders have abdicated their responsibilities whether as “sins of omission”
such as failing to fund the medical expertise needed to combat pandemics or mobilize
industry to produce needed respirators and surgical masks, or as “sins of
commission” such as downplaying the seriousness of the threat and blowing off assistance
from organizations that tried to give us test kits two months ago. It’s enough
to make you see orange.
Greedy senators and dopey frat boys notwithstanding, this is
our moment to show what we’re made of and whether we can govern ourselves and
lead in the world in line with our national self-image. This can be a time
characterized by extraordinary fear, survival of the fittest and each man for
himself or it can be a time characterized by extraordinary kindness, decency, integrity,
and generosity.
One local example of the generosity and decency I speak of is
Tortilleria El Paisano here in Bridgeton. In response to the public health
emergency and the needs of the community, the owners of Tortilleria El Paisano
last week gave away 740 gallons of water, 1,000 pounds worth of pinto beans,
and 1,800 packs of tortillas to the community.
That is no small thing because in addition to feeding
people, it shows that we can make it through and come out on the other side better
than we went in, but it requires a few things; that we recognize the gravity of
the moment, maintain a respect for expertise, and place an emphasis on our
responsibilities as opposed to our rights.