Empathy

I learned that a friend lost her father today to coronavirus. He tested positive on Wednesday last week, was placed on a ventilator yesterday, and passed away on Tuesday, just 6 days from diagnosis. A healthy man with no pre-existing issues. A restaurant owner. A dad. A brother. A husband.

I sense that we have become numb. We have grown accustomed to just hearing how many new positive cases, updated total tests run, and how many deaths. It’s much like how we became numb to servicemen and women that died in Iraq and Afghanistan. This bothers me.

I read everyone spouting off their frustrations on social media. I share some of those frustrations. Medical professionals are doing their best with the information they have. School officials are making the best decisions they can to give people options, but consider the safety of children and staff. Pastors are having to make changes to continue ministering to their congregations, while considering safety issues with meeting in person. Concerts are cancelled. Restaurants are trying to get back to normal with restrictions. Businesses are requiring masks to enter, but trying to stay afloat.

One thing that just really gets under my skin is the tendency to mix politics with this illness. This should not be weaponized. It is poor taste. There is no conspiracy here. This is a virus that has changed and is affecting naive populations. It is a worst nightmare, but something that we understand is normal activity for a virus. We know how it spreads and we know what tools we have to help reduce the spread. Unfortunately there is no pill or cure in a syringe for this 21st century problem as hard as that is for some to believe. The only tools we currently have are social distancing, masks to reduce dispersion of aerosolized droplets, and good hand hygiene. A vaccine may become reality in 2021, but the verdict is out on that – coronavirus vaccines, at least in the animal world, have not proven to produce good duration of immunity. If medical professionals and research and development teams do not have solid answers, what on earth makes us cling to faith in any one man or woman in a political position, or any one political party?

We have lost focus. People are sick. People are perishing from this illness. Good, everyday people from all walks of life, right here in our communities. Sweet souls in nursing facilities are sitting ducks as people up and down the halls are dying from this illness. Let’s get real. This virus literally destroys a persons ability to exchange oxygen. They can’t breathe. Families can’t even be with them. A nurse FaceTimes them or gives the updates that their oxygen saturation is falling, their blood gas results are terrible. The oxygen levels are maxed out under pressure until there is no choice but to sedate the loved one, intubate them, and put them on a mechanical ventilator. Still yet, their lung tissue can continue to be destroyed by the virus until there is no way to support life. The medical team feels helpless, the family feels helpless, and the patient is helpless. Can we all just ponder that? Can we drop the politics? Can we just be empathetic to what everyone else is feeling?

I have no problem wearing a mask to protect other people from myself. I work outside in the heat on farms all day and it sucks doing it in a hot mask. But the thought of getting someone sick makes me feel physically ill. I’ve done my best to avoid becoming sick, but we just can’t be certain if we may be shedding virus without clinical signs of illness. I picture people on ventilators. I picture people I love or just people that I know are loved by someone else. I picture someone not getting to hold the hand of a dying loved one due to restrictions. I feel that helplessness and I think that the only thing that I can actually do to help prevent pain and suffering is to wear the damn mask, wash my hands, and keep some space from people.

So, I won’t go to church, I’ll worship online and anywhere else I please – in the car, on the tractor, or walking by the creek. I’ll eat at outdoor restaurants and order take out. I’ll do early voting to avoid long lines, or maybe request an absentee. I won’t go to my grandmother’s for Sunday dinner. I’ll wait outside at the DMV. I’ll walk one way down grocery aisles. I’ll show some grace when my UPS and Fedex packages are delayed a few days. I’ll try my best to keep my cool when technical support takes forever because all of the agents are working from home.

I can handle these things. None of these things bother me as much as someone innocent gasping for air. I pray that we all can extend some grace, practice some patience, and be empathetic of the real suffering and mourning that is happening around us. Real lives. Real deaths. May a resolution and healthier days come quickly.