Evolving guidance, consistent values
This week we experienced another in a series of epic lessons in being flexible.
If you are feeling something like a touch of whiplash, having prepared for several more months (at least) of wearing facial coverings (at least indoors, in groups), only to receive the new guidance from the CDC, you are in good company.
After nearly fifteen months of epic lessons in being flexible, lessening our attachment to plans and expectations, our hard-won skills are still being challenged.
I’ve listened to voices of celebration and relief at being able to return to so many activities that bring joy. I’ve listened to folk who are angry because they feel less protected. And to folk who are angry because they see this as confirmation that we never needed that much protection, that it was all a sham. I’ve listened to voices of frustration at trying to “keep track” of “regulations,” and voices of confusion at the seeming inconsistency of authority.
And isn’t that, for so many of us, one of the most prominent stories of this pandemic? It is a story of the failure of authority to consistently protect people, to have our best interests (however we define them) at heart, or to make its care for us visible and trustworthy.
I also suspect this sense of loss and betrayal by authority is at the core of the most extreme movements in our country: despite the surface claims of fighting for freedom from authority and control, the anger and violence comes from the belief that there is supposed to be an all-knowing, all-powerful authority that serves US (whoever we define as comprising US). And that authority has failed, and must be replaced.
Ego demands the world be ordered for its benefit, including enough predictability and control for its comfort. Real life fails to conform to that demand, triggering a fearful response. Fear gives rise to anger and violence in a vicious and sad cycle.
This is not an argument against the responsibilities of governing bodies to care for their people. They must do so, or they have no valid reason for existing. And they must be held accountable for their failures.
Instead, I offer this as a reminder that change is not always betrayal; that we can think and feel critically about the change in guidance; and that, above and beneath it all, whatever “authority” does, we are called to continue living our values: empathy, care, kindness, respect.
We can go on making decisions from our own deeply-rooted value paradigms, even as the guidance evolves. I plan to keep a face covering at hand, ready and able to wear it anytime, to help others around me feel safe and comfortable, out of empathy and respect for them.
Sent, as always, with gratitude for your company on this ever-changing journey.