Run or Get Trampled

 I had no intention of writing a blog post at 5 a.m. 

Nope. I had every intention of sleeping until my alarm sounded at 6:45, but here I am. I'm guessing this is a result of reading a blog post before going to sleep. At any rate I will be notifying that author, Chandra, of her role, blame or motivation for this essay.

A few months ago, I took my children to a Black Lives Matter march. The march was peaceful... until it wasn't... but we weren't there for the unrest that followed.

We were onlookers, downtown at the city square, inching our way back to our car, until we weren't. 

We went from watchers to runners in a matter of seconds. One moment we were standing, the next moment a throng of people was racing in our direction and our options were run, or get trampled.

But this blog is not about that march, this blog is about running or getting trampled... but not in a literal sense.

We're all watching events unfold regarding Coronavirus. We're all there, "on the square" as this worldwide virus marches across the planet, and it is amazing how we're reacting to it.

As I slept, a scant 20 minutes ago, this blog wrote itself and slowly nudged me into alertness. 

I awakened to thoughts of the American film and television diet we've been brought up on. A kind of conditioning, if you will. A diet where the small town, or big city characters face a myriad of issues but always triumph in the end. We've been programmed to believe that, no matter what we face, we're going to win. We're going to beat the bad guy and persevere. If we possess magical powers, we're going to wiggle our noses or fold our arms and blink, and the problem will be gone. If we band together, a group of us can endure against any odds. If we have fast cars, we'll have a furious gunfight as we race through the city and blast them into oblivion. If aliens attack our planet, against all odds, against their advanced weaponry, we're going to beat them. If we're have some sort of special training, or luck, or if we simply believe we can do it... we can beat any foe. 

It's a theme played out over and over again in countless shows and movies, and I think we may have started to believe it. I've been watching news interviews where people constantly say, "we just have to get back to life as normal" as if living life normally, will make this whole covid19 nightmare go away. The thing that stuck out to me yesterday, is that, where once it was the adults saying it, now the children are echoing that theme... we've got to go back to normal life... we're going to beat this thing with our wills, we're going to be the heroes.

Except, we're not. Not all of us anyway. And the mounting casualty count is evidence of that.

So, where is empathy?

I've said, for years, that many people can't really understand the pain of a thing until it happens to them. Sitting in that hurt, feeling all that goes with that specific pain is a lot of mental work, that they just don't have to go through... so they don't. 

News stories have confirmed this. So many people have forged ahead with normal life until they have unfortunately contracted this novel virus. Novel, new, somewhat unknown still. And then they understand. But does understanding need to only come when you are suffering?

So, for those of us who have some of empathy right now, those who use critical thinking, those who believe the scientists...we find ourselves running, trying to stay ahead of this thing, so we don't get trampled.

Ok.. the blog is out of my brain now. Can I please go back to sleep?