Out of the woods
We are not yet out of the woods, but the trees are thinning, allowing more light in, illuminating the challenges ahead. Which path forward will we choose?
Dearest ones:
We are almost there. We can taste the return to more freedom of movement, more freedom to visit, to hug one another. To interact safely, without the heavy pit of fear many of us have carried in our bellies for a year or more. From our exhaustion and grief, we reach for relief, to set down the burden of anxiety from our shoulders.
It is not yet time to let down our guard. We risk a terrible resurgence of illness and death if we do. Vaccination rates are rising, and infections, hospitalizations, and deaths fell from their brutal heights in January and February. But that brings the numbers to where they were last summer, in the “second surge,” which triggered restrictions in many areas of the country. Too many of our fellow humans have not made it this far with us.
We are not yet out of the woods; the trees are thinning, allowing more light in, illuminating the challenges ahead.
Congressional votes on the pandemic relief package illustrate the fissures that threaten our ability to recover. Perhaps even more so, the lack of any Republican support for the “For the People Act,” the pro-voting rights, anti-corruption legislation that would pre-empt hundreds of state house efforts to restrict and deny voter access, shows how our democracy is still tenuous. Any one senator, representing a tiny fraction of American voters, can delay or demolish legislation that is among the most popular in our country’s recent history. (The sacrifice of the provision to move the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour is particularly bitter, and shameful.)
Across the country, too many leaders still fail to take our health and safety as seriously as they take the desire for profit and power. Many of our neighbors have failed to take simple precautions such as mask wearing that could save lives. Powerful people entice folk into lie-fueled fears that led to violent action. The echoes of this trauma and what it reveals about our society will not fade quickly.
Our trek through the darkest part of the pandemic woods now leads us to a new clearing: one in which the challenge of constructing truly just, equitable, inclusive social structures stands before us. Which path forward will we choose: the sickness of fear and violence, or the healing that comes from embracing the value of every member of our dearly beloved human family?
As always, I am grateful for your company every step of the way.
From On The Media, how will we know when the pandemic ends?https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/what-does-pandemic-ending-look-on-the-media?tab=summary
From the NYT: analysis of congressional votes on pandemic aid. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/stimulus-senate-bipartisanship-biden
From the Washington Post: polling on the pandemic aid package. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/07/biden-coronavirus-response-poll/
From the Washington Post on the For the People Act. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-elections-voting-pelosi-/2021/03/03/e434df58-7c22-11eb-a976-c028a4215c78_story.html