COVID-19 JOURNAL #1 CORONA FLOODLIGHT

COVID-19 JOURNAL #1 CORONA FLOODLIGHT

Lfj Gill

COVID-19 JOURNAL #1 CORONA FLOODLIGHT

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known and brought to light. -Luke 8:17 BSB

Such as?


—What has always been the case but never shouted from the rooftops until impossible to ignore: Those among us who do the most labor-intensive work, perform the most essential services, and serve others most dependably are compensated the least of those among us at the other end of the spectrum who serve themselves first, who utilize (exploit) others to uphold their own interests, and who seek every means they can find to accrue more wealth to themselves while giving the least possible back to those who provide them with their wealth.

Is anybody today still blind to what is happening to nursing-home caregivers, grocery store clerks, delivery people, trash collectors, postal workers, bus drivers, police, home-care workers, home health aids—all those who must get close to others in their work, who must put themselves in harm’s way to do their jobs, who minister to the sick and dying without sufficient medical means to protect themselves or their patients?

This is, of course, not a new phenomenon, nor is the recognition thereof new: “The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.” However, the inequity (read: injustice) has perhaps never in history nor on such a broad scale been so undeniably obvious to everyone everywhere at once, as our nurses and caregivers, childcare providers, food servers, truck drivers, trash collectors, and the rest of the unsung, keep giving what they have to give for the benefit of the rest of us—many, if not most, while struggling to put food on their family’s table or pay their rent.

The things often hidden, ignored, or taken for granted are now being illuminated like a night game at Fenway Park when the switches are thrown—in the floodlights of this equal-opportunity invader called Covid-19—the global enemy from which no one and nothing is safe. The pandemic has thrown into stark relief those who are most at risk and least able to protect themselves for lack of economic and social support.

The other side of the coin is the great potential for rectifying this human tragedy by changing the world for the better. But will we? For that matter, is there any "we"? Will this common enemy unite us in the interest of the good of all human beings, the worth of every human life, and the need to honor all persons and care for the welfare of all persons everywhere—young, old, black, brown, yellow, red, white? To care for the earth itself and all the resources and life- forms on it—rather than just for our immediate and narrow needs and wants?

We will see.

2020-05-11

English

Hopkinton, RI

The social inequities brought to light by the pandemic