Unprecedented times

I’m going to give you fair warning here:  what I’m about to write here will probably offend just about everyone I know to one degree or another.  I’m not an expert, and this is all just my opinion.  You don’t have to agree.  The thing is, your opinions are for the most part inexpert as well, and we all quote or share videos of “experts” that only support our current way of thinking, so there’s that.  If you don’t like it that’s fine with me, I’ll still love you and we can still be friends.  If you choose not to be friends after you read it, then I suppose we weren’t really friends in the first place if that’s all it takes to cut me off.  This will appear on my social media accounts because I get to express my opinion there.  I will delete any comments that appear that are disparaging to anyone or are attempting to argue, because I’m simply not going to argue.  I’m not giving that control to anyone.  You can use your own space for that.

We live in “Unprecedented times”. 

I’ve been hearing that a lot lately, but honestly, I think it’s kind of a dumb thing to say.  Every day is new so isn’t it all unprecedented?

There’s a lot of stuff happening right now in the world that is devastating to everyone to different degrees, and we have to learn to adjust somehow in “unprecedented” ways.  Before we do that, however, we have to understand the truth of what we are dealing with. 

For some time now I’ve experienced a genuine sadness over how we all as a people are treating each other.  We have allowed ourselves to be divided by false information, rumor, and even more minor issues to the point where there is nothing left to hold us together.  All that seems to matter is each person’s individual desires with no regard to the impact they might have on the life of any other human.  Our politicians tell us who and what to hate, and we should of course trust them because they all have our best interests at heart (that’s sarcasm just to be clear).  Add to this the current slate of politicians on both sides of the fence who use anything and everything to their advantage for their personal gain, and who tell us they are doing it all for our benefit.  And we eat it all up as though they actually even know who we are.  When I hear the things that politicians come up with to say about each other I feel like I’m listening to 5-year-olds argue.  I’m not singling out any party here either.  This is ALL of them!  What’s worse is we are actually listening to and supporting them! 

This is the environment into which a virus is introduced.

One would think that something as serious as this is would bring us together, but we’re already too far down the road of selfish ambition to make it that easy.  Nothing is off limits to political partisanship.  Instead of working together at a time when we need it most, when one side does something good the other side can’t possibly admit it so they have to do something the opposite and call it good instead.  Then the finger pointing starts and everything comes to a standstill.  Everyone caught in the middle suffers, all the while pointing fingers as well.

My point is this:  our political leaders are not special.  They are not better than us.  They are human too.  They all do some things right, and some things wrong.  None of them are all good, or all bad.  If I cut you off in traffic one day, does that mean I’m a bad person?  No more than you are when you do the same thing.

In order to agree with one thing a politician does, I do not have to agree with, or like, everything he/she does.  I actually have the ability to think for myself and recognize the conflict I see with my own eyes.  Open your own eyes and see what’s there for yourself instead of just accepting everything you are told!

The outright stupidity that infects and divides us over this is astounding.

Someone makes a statement like “Don’t live in fear”, and someone else picks it up and makes it some ridiculous rallying cry.  Fear is a choice.  You can do the right thing and not live in fear, but remember they are two different things that are not dependent on the other.  Just because I choose to live in a manner that you define as fearful, does not make it true that I live in fear.  It only proves that your opinion of me is irrelevant.  You are merely trying to manipulate me into living like you, who live in your anger.  And anger is just an aggressive response to fear.  So tell me who’s really living in fear then?  All you are trying to do is gain strength in numbers to prove to yourself that you are “not afraid”.  If I don’t want politicians to tell me what to think, why would I let anyone else have the right to tell me what I fear?

We’ve become too lazy to think for ourselves so we just keep repeating the thoughts of others, with no effort to learn any facts.  We simply accept the uneducated and/or untested opinions that skip across our screens that reinforce our existing beliefs.  When something different comes up, it is simply ignored or attacked, and the person who posts it is now considered untrustworthy or worse, an enemy.

I’ve seen another trend where someone uses statistics from other movements to deflect from the issue.  Most of you who do this do not support those movements in any substantive way.  You don’t work with them, you don’t give money to them, and when you get their emails you don’t answer them.  So how dare you hijack their work to support your own misguided attempt at selfishly giving yourself some credibility.  All you do is undermine any sense of integrity you had to begin with.

There are a lot of things that have been done wrong, or at the very least, inconsistently as we as a society have tried to deal with this pandemic.  Even to the point of denying its existence.  Let’s not forget that this is a worldwide pandemic.  It’s not just here in America, but because we’ve made it a political issue instead of a medical one, and put the idea of dealing with it into a political structure, we are now dealing with it as though we’re children on a playground trying to avoid cooties!

But here’s the thing: There are other diseases that we have not encountered here in America and other First World societies.  We need to acknowledge this and use the situation we are now in as a way to recognize what we can change in order to deal with future infections in a better way.  The First World has no idea what to do with contagion, and we have lived in blissful ignorance of the threat and call it “freedom”.  So, we reduce safe behaviors to “taking away our rights” because we are truly selfish in this.  There are viruses developing and spreading freely in Third World countries, they are mutating and becoming more virulent.  They are untreated for the simple reason that it is not profitable to develop a cure for a poor country.  They are ignored, but make no mistake; they are still coming.  There have been warnings of an approaching pandemic for years now, we just didn’t listen.

For this reason alone, we should at least be approaching the need for a response to this as an experiment that requires that we follow the prescribed patterns of behavior so we can find out the best ways to control it and save our own lives.  Instead we fall to the ground and wave our limbs uselessly and cry about the violation to our rights!  And people die, but instead of being concerned about the deaths or infections we find another useless video made by someone who wants to be an authority on something but isn’t, that we think somehow justifies our existing point of view.  For the record, it doesn’t justify anything, it only proves your willful ignorance.

We treat reports of death as inconsequential so we can maintain our ignorant bliss. 

“Do you actually know anyone who has died from this?”

Even asking the question is just a reflection of ignorant selfishness, because it wouldn’t change your existing view regardless of the answer.  You would merely find some explanation that made it acceptable to deny the cause.

“Oh he/she had underlying conditions.”

And that makes a difference how?  We shelter in place and practice social distancing and wear masks to protect those that have the underlying conditions.  As a reminder, THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT YOU!  It’s about everyone you know or come in contact with!

“I know someone who knows someone who died of cancer, but they said they had to report it as a virus death.”

There are actually verified reports of this happening.  Again, many things are being done wrong as we learn to respond to this threat appropriately.  When government is involved in anything the response is usually at best, cumbersome and unwieldy.  I’m not an advocate for government overreach in any way, but if we are going to get a handle on this we need to make mistakes first and err on the side of caution.  The more we know and understand the better we can adjust to the reality of what we need to do.

“The guy in charge fired someone who was saying something he didn’t like.”

Again, how does this change the issue whether it’s true or not?  This is just following a persistent pattern set by the politicians and media to launch personal attacks on someone who is saying something we are simply too immature to hear.  Because, again, we have given up the ability to think intelligently for ourselves.

This is a worldwide issue.  It’s not about American rights.  It’s not about “OSHA regulations”.  It’s not about “one world government”, or any other conspiracy you care to name.

I’m going to take a moment to point out what should be obvious.

This is a virus.

The virus doesn’t care how old you are.

The virus doesn’t care how famous you are.

The virus doesn’t care what race you are.

The virus doesn’t care how much money you make.

The virus doesn’t care what you think you know.

The virus doesn’t care what political party you belong to.

The virus doesn’t care about your rights.

The virus doesn’t care about your religion or faith.

The virus doesn’t care about anything.

The virus doesn’t have the ability to care, or emote about anything at all.  It’s a virus.  It merely looks for an environment to thrive in.  That environment is you and me.

I need people.  I need human contact. 

Unfortunately, so does the virus.  What I need, and do, for myself, could now become a threat to the safety and well-being of others.  It’s hard enough to accept this on a basic level, but when we add political posturing to the process it completely overshadows the reality of our situation.

I will go on to say that as a Christian, I am appalled and ashamed of the way a significant portion of the Church has chosen to treat others during this time.  Both within and without the Church body I have watched people being treated cruelly, and so viciously.  I am completely disgusted by this behavior.  Those who do this have simply put their politics over their faith.  They are dictated to by hate rather than the Love of Christ, and it sickens me.  To you I would say this:  Step out of your current thought structure and re-examine your actions in light of what Jesus would really do!  Try to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  We are supposed to be different! 

So many times, I have heard it said, “I follow God’s law not man’s.”  This is commendable and I agree with that statement.  However, you completely undermine any credibility you may have engendered when you only follow God’s law when it agrees with something you want to do, and conveniently ignore it when it suits your purpose.  God’s law is always God’s law, not just when you like it.  His Law is Love, and our job is reconciliation, not judgement.

I’m not perfect.  I can’t claim any better record at actually following through with this than anyone else.  I am trying my hardest though.  I’ve learned more and more throughout my life that Love really is the answer. 

This thing really is killing people, and we can do something about it.  You will say something like, “I care, I just don’t think we should be doing it this way….”. 

Please just shut up.  Take responsibility for your own actions, and start thinking like someone else is at least as important as you are to yourself.

I know I am not alone when I say I have held the hands of the dead.  They are impossibly cold.  I have tried in vain to impart some warmth back into them, and I have discovered to my despair that I cannot bring anyone back to life.  There are no do overs.

If someone I loved were to die from this virus, and it could be shown that it came from you, that you were in fact responsible for my loved one’s death because you couldn’t be bothered to care enough to take precautions, then I would come to you.

We would have a meeting, and you would not welcome it.  I would not threaten you.  I would not harm you or do anything to you.

What I would do, would be to give you the unimaginable weight of my grief.

I would place upon your shoulders the overwhelming, unbearable burden of the effect of your own actions onto your shoulders.

I would watch alongside you as it weighed us both down together. 

As it pressed us to the earth and inexorably crushed us.

As it slowly and inevitably left us all but lifeless.

And then I would take it back.

I would forgive you, and take your hand to help you heal.

I would love you once again.

And then I would sit beside you, and take your hand and ask,

“Was the life we lost worth it?”

©Dan Bode 2020