What and Who Should We Believe About COVID-19?
Who should we believe and what should we believe about COVID-19? It's now been months of government lock-down. Our economy has slipped into a serious recession. Our lives have been totally disrupted. Yet after all this time, it's almost impossible to know what's true and what's not about this disease. And it's awfully difficult to ferret out if and when our lives can be restored to at least some degree of "normalcy."
First of all, let's recognize that in some areas of the country (not here in the Northeast), businesses have begun the process of a return to business as usual. The key words here: "process" and "as usual." I just saw a photo of a barbershop opened in some unidentified location. The barber and the customer both wore masks. Business as usual? Not really. But I guess it's a start.
(I brought up the barbershop example because of a conversation I just had with a client. He and his family left their Manhattan apartment about 2 months ago for their second home in a less populated part of New England. When I asked him what would cause him to drive back to the city, his answer: "When the barbershops reopen." I hadn't thought about this until he mentioned it, but that's one business whose disruption pretty much affects every one of us. So how barbershops fare as things open up might be worth observing.)
You could write a book, at this point, if you tried to cover everyone from every source who's opined on this unique iteration of a coronavirus. We've heard from doctors, researchers, politicians, bureaucrats, and, in my own case, many family and friends. Has anything been offered that gives us any concrete idea of how dangerous - or not - COVID-19 has been? My answer: No. Unless you fall into a particular camp, you may be in my boat: confused. And perhaps you, like me, have stopped focusing all that much attention on the various theories being pushed one way or the other. So far, there's been nothing I can rely on to help me figure out either when my part of the country will open up, or what I myself will do when that time comes. For example, will I hop on a train when I want to get into Manhattan? I don't know. Will I go out to a restaurant to meet friends for dinner on the weekend? I don't know.
Frankly, at this point I don't trust anyone's opinion, nor do I have any firm conviction about whether the closing down of the world's economy - in the form most nations pursued this - made or makes any sense. Maybe you do. If so, can you explain why? If you can't explain in a relatively clear and simple manner, without lapsing into politics or emotional outbursts, spare me. I've got too much work to slog through today to waste time with personal opinions and feelings.
The only thing I do know is this: COVID-19 is a unique iteration of a coronavirus. Colds are iterations of coronaviruses. Is COVID-19 as harmless as most colds? For some of us, yes. For others, decidedly not. And while I get that some people are, as a group, more vulnerable to the deadliness the disease has exhibited, I'm not convinced that if you're relatively young and healthy, or have had exposure to the virus, you're safe to go about without any precautions. Again, show me I'm wrong here.
The above is a quick and dirty background to my answers to those two questions with which we began today's post:
If, like me, you remain on the fence when it comes to who we should believe and what we should believe about COVID-19, you may also be confused, even feel a bit irritated. What has been most irritating and confusing for me is an inability to do anything about our current circumstances. I just feel "stuck" sometimes. And I wonder if I should be "doing more" to unstick myself. So far, such wondering has been more frustrating than productive.
In such circumstances, my spiritual life provides some sense of peace. Turning to my Catholic faith and its traditional teachings, it seems that even in "normal times" frustration over our inability to shape the world as we might have it can result in not only practical, but also spiritual confusion and disappointment.
With all that as background, in the course of my normal reading of good spiritual works, I came across some wise words from Fr. Bertrand Weaver, C.P. He points us to the virtue of hope in the specific context of the connection between the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Our understanding that connection should be the focus of our spiritual lives during this Easter Season.
“All this is paramount for our growth in the virtue of hope, a virtue, which along with faith and love, is necessary for salvation. The foundation of our hope is expressed in the words of the Creed: ‘And I await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.’ But our resurrection flows from that of our Lord, as St. Paul indicates when he says: ‘But as it is, Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ He elaborates on this in writing to the Romans: ‘But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.’ If our hope is not broad enough to encompass our rising from the dead at the second-coming of Christ, it is a stunted hope, which means it is not hope at all. ‘If with this life only in view,’ says St. Paul, ‘we have had hope in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitied.’
Perhaps you can join me in welcoming Father's words about hope. Our lives have been greatly disrupted. The future may remain largely unknown. But our hope in the risen Christ remains rock-solid. We can all gain strength and stability from this hope as we make our way through a world none of us could have imagined.
First of all, let's recognize that in some areas of the country (not here in the Northeast), businesses have begun the process of a return to business as usual. The key words here: "process" and "as usual." I just saw a photo of a barbershop opened in some unidentified location. The barber and the customer both wore masks. Business as usual? Not really. But I guess it's a start.
(I brought up the barbershop example because of a conversation I just had with a client. He and his family left their Manhattan apartment about 2 months ago for their second home in a less populated part of New England. When I asked him what would cause him to drive back to the city, his answer: "When the barbershops reopen." I hadn't thought about this until he mentioned it, but that's one business whose disruption pretty much affects every one of us. So how barbershops fare as things open up might be worth observing.)
You could write a book, at this point, if you tried to cover everyone from every source who's opined on this unique iteration of a coronavirus. We've heard from doctors, researchers, politicians, bureaucrats, and, in my own case, many family and friends. Has anything been offered that gives us any concrete idea of how dangerous - or not - COVID-19 has been? My answer: No. Unless you fall into a particular camp, you may be in my boat: confused. And perhaps you, like me, have stopped focusing all that much attention on the various theories being pushed one way or the other. So far, there's been nothing I can rely on to help me figure out either when my part of the country will open up, or what I myself will do when that time comes. For example, will I hop on a train when I want to get into Manhattan? I don't know. Will I go out to a restaurant to meet friends for dinner on the weekend? I don't know.
Frankly, at this point I don't trust anyone's opinion, nor do I have any firm conviction about whether the closing down of the world's economy - in the form most nations pursued this - made or makes any sense. Maybe you do. If so, can you explain why? If you can't explain in a relatively clear and simple manner, without lapsing into politics or emotional outbursts, spare me. I've got too much work to slog through today to waste time with personal opinions and feelings.
The only thing I do know is this: COVID-19 is a unique iteration of a coronavirus. Colds are iterations of coronaviruses. Is COVID-19 as harmless as most colds? For some of us, yes. For others, decidedly not. And while I get that some people are, as a group, more vulnerable to the deadliness the disease has exhibited, I'm not convinced that if you're relatively young and healthy, or have had exposure to the virus, you're safe to go about without any precautions. Again, show me I'm wrong here.
The above is a quick and dirty background to my answers to those two questions with which we began today's post:
- Who should we believe about COVID-19? Answer: No one.
- What should we believe about COVID-19? Answer: So far, very little.
If, like me, you remain on the fence when it comes to who we should believe and what we should believe about COVID-19, you may also be confused, even feel a bit irritated. What has been most irritating and confusing for me is an inability to do anything about our current circumstances. I just feel "stuck" sometimes. And I wonder if I should be "doing more" to unstick myself. So far, such wondering has been more frustrating than productive.
In such circumstances, my spiritual life provides some sense of peace. Turning to my Catholic faith and its traditional teachings, it seems that even in "normal times" frustration over our inability to shape the world as we might have it can result in not only practical, but also spiritual confusion and disappointment.
With all that as background, in the course of my normal reading of good spiritual works, I came across some wise words from Fr. Bertrand Weaver, C.P. He points us to the virtue of hope in the specific context of the connection between the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Our understanding that connection should be the focus of our spiritual lives during this Easter Season.
“All this is paramount for our growth in the virtue of hope, a virtue, which along with faith and love, is necessary for salvation. The foundation of our hope is expressed in the words of the Creed: ‘And I await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.’ But our resurrection flows from that of our Lord, as St. Paul indicates when he says: ‘But as it is, Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ He elaborates on this in writing to the Romans: ‘But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you.’ If our hope is not broad enough to encompass our rising from the dead at the second-coming of Christ, it is a stunted hope, which means it is not hope at all. ‘If with this life only in view,’ says St. Paul, ‘we have had hope in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitied.’
Perhaps you can join me in welcoming Father's words about hope. Our lives have been greatly disrupted. The future may remain largely unknown. But our hope in the risen Christ remains rock-solid. We can all gain strength and stability from this hope as we make our way through a world none of us could have imagined.
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