Facts:
• As of today, March 14, there have been approximately 150,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus worldwide.
• More than 70,000 of those with coronavirus have recovered.
• There have been more traffic fatalities (approximately 6,000) just in the United States, than there have been worldwide deaths from COVID-19.
• This Flu season there have been approximately 32,000,000 cases and 18,000 deaths worldwide.
I am not saying don't be afraid of the coronavirus. There are a lot of unknowns surrounding it and we should be afraid; it will help us to be careful. But hopefully the facts above will also help us to maintain some perspective.
I cannot and will not say that we are over-reacting to coronavirus. I don't know. But I can and will say that we are under-reacting to a number of other ailments and afflictions; and not just those that have potential for attributable fatalities. Some of these afflictions, (such as ignorance, obliviousness and stupidity), do have the potential for future fatalities, but when that potential and those fatalities come about beyond the lifetime of the individual who is ignorant, oblivious and/or stupid, it is no longer attributable to the individual, and the individual cannot be held personally responsible, so who cares? Right? Even within the lifetime of the ignorant, oblivious and/or stupid, some of these individuals have enough power (i.e. wealth) to deflect personal responsibility onto others who may or may not share the responsibility, thus instigating and perpetuating what ultimately becomes a giant, seemingly endless game of rapid-fire recrimination Pong.
To be ignorant is simply to not know. We are all ignorant in varying ways, and each one of us (regardless of actual or perceived intelligence) is far more ignorant than knowledgeable.
To be oblivious is to choose to not know; a self-prescribed selfish apathy.
To be stupid is to pretend or (sometimes truly) believe to know, creating a mindset leading to actions that are purposeful, selfish, potentially harmful and malicious.
When I am ignorant, (which is frequently), I seek consensus expert opinion.
To be ignorant and to not seek consensus expert opinion is to be oblivious. Though I work to not be oblivious, at times I have no choice but to prioritize and at other times I choose to prioritize.
In my lifetime, I have often been stupid. I am working very hard to make that less so today than yesterday.
COVID-19 may, in hindsight, show that the panic is/was warranted. Again, I don't know. Regardless, I am actively hoping that the experience will move a few more people from oblivious to an acknowledgement of ignorance and its concomitant search for consensus expert opinion. I don't believe though, that it will be enough to move very many, (if any), off of stupid.
It appears that Life is going to slow down for a time. If the tapering of new cases in China is a reliable indicator, we will be disrupted for a relatively short few weeks to few months. I am sorry for those who have suffered and for those who will suffer. I am sorry for those who are dysfunctionally afraid. But I am (again) actively hopeful that this experience will remind us to take nothing for granted and perhaps soften the shell of entitlement so many of us have developed in this remarkable age of comfort and wonder. It would be better to learn from these few weeks of discomfort than to continue our current trajectory and wait for the inevitable few weeks (or months or years or generations) of hardship.
Some may have difficulty understanding how this pandemic is related to our current trajectory. Some years back, scientists were pursuing a vaccine that would or could have put us several months ahead of our current pace for a vaccine for COVID-19. Because there was no urgent need at the time, funding dried up. If it is not a big moneymaker for Big Pharm, it is apparently not a priority. This is reflective of our continuing current trajectory. As long as wealth is the measure of progress, Humanity will stand still. Wealth is a hallmark of stupidity, and comfort is a hallmark of obliviousness; and yes, Humanity is a hallmark of ignorance. But perhaps if more and more of us acknowledge our ignorance we could build a foundation of interdependent intelligence and expertise that would overwhelm obliviousness and mitigate stupidity.
That is a lesson to be learned…
…from this pandemic…
…Now!