Trump & The Virus, An Island View.
Part I: “We’re All In It Together
Early Spring, 2021. Like each of the other nearly 7.9 billion humans on Planet Earth, Faye and I have lived through a pandemic year like no other in our lifetimes. In our south-facing third-floor condo in Nanaimo (Population about 100,000), on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, off the northwest coast of North America, we have much to be grateful for. And much to think about.
Unlike so many others we have lost no loved ones to the Covid-19 virus. Being retired, we have no jobs to be impacted and our lives are only minimally disrupted. We both have pensions, small but adequate so far.
At this point, like much of North America, however, B.C. is experiencing new waves of infections. Why now? Partly it’s just people. We’re tired of restrictions, tired of the winter’s gloom, and now it’s Spring! To hell with it! Early flowers, trees misted with new green. It’s still chilly but even so the very air seems new, softer, welcoming.
[Below: Daffodils in Maffeo-Sutton Park, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Early April, 2021. Photo by author.]
Released from the grip of cold, dark, damp weather, people are coming out of their hidey-holes, going places, gathering in the welcoming open air and other venues. The B.C. Provincial health authority—who deserve rave kudos for responsible leadership and clear public communications—recently reinstated mask mandates in public places and closed indoor restaurant dining.
At the same time the unimaginable kajillions of living Covid-19 virus particles swarming around the globe are creatively evolving, morphing into new more infectious versions. Even as new variants arise globally and infections surge, a massive and unprecedented combined government/industry effort and recent advances in genetic science rise to the challenge. Mass vaccines against the infection are being rolled out in record time.
Being in the elderly vulnerable population Faye and I received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on March 18, about three weeks ago now. According to online sources we should be 80% to 85% protected (I’m not quite sure what that means, but it’s 80% reassuring anyway).
A light flickers dimly at the end of the long tunnel. Even as new and infectious variants spread the end of the pandemic is in sight. Thank God for science! Already it leaves us all with much to think about.
Trump & The Virus. What Can We Learn?
Along with The Virus, we’ve had Trump. The other big stories as 2020 slid by and into the frame of the rear-view mirror revolved around the U.S. election and the political dramas that marked the end of the Trump presidency. The rise of The Virus in the fourth year of Trump’s term looms as an epic historical conjunction—one that seems…. What? Timely? Destined? Fitting somehow? Like it couldn’t have happened any other way? Or maybe that’s simply an illusion of inevitability. Maybe the co-incidence of Trump and The Virus is simply a consequential historical accident? Either way it leaves particularly rich ground to explore.
Here’s a few notable “lessons” to take to heart from this epic conjunction of natural forces and political theatre.
- We’re all in it together—all 7.9 billion of us humans on our little planet.
- Truth matters. Because our world is getting so interrelated, we increasingly have to make decisions that affect more of us, and even all of us together and our planet as a whole. To make good decisions at any level we need to know what’s happening. We need experts and leaders who tell the truth. That leads to the next “lesson.”
- We need good leaders. In a democracy we the people decide. That’s the whole idea of democracy. Therefore, it matters what our leaders, who have more direct access to information, tell us. It matters not only what our leaders do, but also what they say. To make democracy work we need to select and elect leaders with integrity who will tell us the truth, as much as possible.
- Integrity matters. Telling the truth is an aspect of integrity. Another important aspect of integrity is not to sacrifice means for ends. That means, for one, obviously, not lying or cheating to get what you want. And it similarly means not putting up with bad or dishonest leaders because they promise particular policy results. More broadly, it means acting responsibly with the well-being of others and the larger whole in mind.
- Finally, democracy is fragile. The very freedoms and openness that make it what it is also open a democracy to abuse and misuse. That’s why, especially in a democracy, truth matters, integrity matters, and we need good leaders.
The conjunction of The Virus and the Trump presidency brings these, and doubtless other, core “lessons” up, front and center. Hopefully more of us will take them to heart. I’ll pick them up for a closer look in order, in subsequent posts, beginning next time with “Lesson” One: We’re All In This Together.