Where Are We Headed?

 

February 4, 2021

The pandemic has eased a bit over the last week. About 9% fewer new cases across the United States in the past week. That's a good trend. Many among us have already received the first dose of either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19. That's also a good trend. In Kentucky teachers and administrators have been among those targeted to receive the vaccinations early because we all want our children back in school, and we all want our teachers safe. In Clark County where I serve at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) all educators and support staff of Clark County Public Schools who were willing to receive a vaccine have had their first round. Yet another good trend -- save for the several who refused the vaccine.

With the decline in new infections and the vaccination doses increasing in speed, there is hope that we will emerge from this exile and find ourselves on the other side of it. But, where are we headed? Will the other side of this be a land flowing with milk and honey or a foreign soil to which we have yet to acclimate? I tend to believe it to be the latter. Here's few thoughts about where we might be headed.

There is a terrible trend in the United States where People of Color are NOT getting vaccinated in a number that will significantly reduce the proliferation of the disease. The data produced on those vaccinated to date shows overwhelming evidence that People of Color are not getting the vaccine at anywhere near the rate of whites. Why? I am not qualified or knowledgeable enough to say, but I do know this. Healthcare has been distributed disproportionately between whites and people of color for a very long time. Data shows that income for whites is disproportionately higher than for people of color. And that's just the United States. People of color across the globe have been historically underserved. 

The equitable distribution of the vaccine is a raging debate. The UK and Europe are engaged in a battle over vaccines. Portugal is inundated with new cases, and in South America and sub-Saharan Africa, in India and among the poorest of the poor across the globe vulnerability to COVID-19 and access to vaccines are major hurdles. 

We are learning a new reality about how small the world is, no matter national origin or ethnicity. If someone, somewhere in the world is sick, it can and almost certainly will travel across national borders. That is the case with the new strains of COVID-19 that have proliferated in the last month. They are more transmittable and therefore are more deadly, and the effect will be disproportionally worse for People of Color. 

So, I am inclined to believe that where we are headed isn't the place we may hope we are. People keep saying, a return to normal. I do not think that phrase means what they think it means. Normal has always been a relative and subjective term, but the normal ahead of us may stretch our definition of normal.

Having offered those thoughts I would also assert that I am not a complete skeptic. I am, at least in part, a believer in the power of humans to overcome obstacles. So, I hope that where we are headed includes a renewed focus on equity; an equity that respects the dignity of every human and provides access to healthcare at a previously unprecedented level. If that's where we are headed that will be a good trend, too.

And speaking of equitable distribution of healthcare -- if the rollout of this vaccine has shown us anything about subsidized healthcare it is this: you offer people a lifesaving drug for free and they will take it without asking who is paying for it. Lots of people say they don't want subsidized, socialized, communist healthcare until they need it to save their lives and couldn't otherwise afford it.

So, I am hopeful that one of the places we are headed is a more equitable distribution of healthcare resources. 

Where else are we headed? If the capital insurrection/attempted coup is any indication of the direction we are headed then we might be tempted to lament. Still, I believe the general response of shock and horror to the most egregious act on American soil I have witnessed in my lifetime is more indicative of America as a whole. The overwhelming majority of American people were horrified at the sight of insurrectionists hunting down congress members, building a gallows and calling for the hanging of the Vice President. Horrified may be a mild word. So, as bad as it was, and it was the most undemocratic, scary moment I have seen, I believe that our country will repudiate political violence and vengeance when history is written. Further, I believe that as dangerously close as we came to a dictatorship that the long course of history from these moments forward will arc toward democracy. If so, that will be a welcome trend.

Where are we headed? I really don't know. I really don't. I simply have hope that our better human side will prevail, even though, and I say this with a heavy heart, the Church of Jesus Christ has had a hand in fomenting the unrest, the insurrection, the refusal to accept defeat and promulgated the idea that somehow God had hand-picked the 45th President -- and thus electing the 46th was a rejection of God's will for our country. And that is sad. 

This is longer than I intended so let me finish by saying that wherever we are headed the sad isn't over, and the way is still long. May God be our guide. May peace be with every living human, animal and plant. May where we are headed be where God is calling us to be.

Peace be with you,

Jerry