Pride and Pandemic

This pandemic is bigger than politics. The problem with that is, America loves its politics. The Left, The Right, the donkey, the elephant (we have mascots, for Christ’s sake) — it’s a never-ending high school football game to us. We love believing we can stuff everything into one of two boxes. Gives us something to be passionate about forever.

“It’s a liberal hoax!”

“Republicans aren’t doing enough!”

Nah. In this case — more evident, widespread and indiscriminate than any other case in our lifetime — it’s way simpler than that, and far scarier.

It’s pride.

Pride when “The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.” (Trump, 2/24)

Pride when “It’s going to disappear. One day, like a miracle, it will disappear.” (Trump, 2/28)

Pride when “We’re prepared and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm, it will go away.” (Trump, 3/10)

Pride when “it’s something we have tremendous control over.” (Trump, 3/15)

Pride when “I’d love to have the country open and just raring to go by Easter.” (Trump, 3/24)

Pride when “It’s not as bad as everyone says.”

Pride when “Does anybody even know anybody who has this thing?”

Pride when “Well, it’s not gonna happen to me.”

Pride when “We’re on spring break, though!”

Pride when “I don’t see a need to issue state-wide regulations.”

Pride when “Ain’t nobody gonna tell me I can’t go to church!”

It’s pride that has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to actual human deaths. Not deaths in a war in a land far away you have little reason to spend too much time thinking about because they don’t affect you personally, not deaths in a right-place-wrong-time robbery, not deaths in a mass shooting we can’t wait to sweep under the rug.

This thing doesn’t care what team you’re on, so, if you care more about your “team” than this thing, you are putting yourself and others at risk. That is a fact.

I know some people aren’t necessarily TeamFact, guess what: this thing doesn’t care about that either. (See above.)

It isn’t a matter of “Can my pride get people killed?” it is a matter of when.

The good news is, Pride is a virus we can control.

All we have to do is want to.