COVID-19 Update: Day 8 Musings

Hi Everybody,

I blogged for the first time about the crisis on March 13. Eight days have passed and so much has happened. It's my intention to stay in close touch with you, to share information and offer encouragement.

Today, I'm going to wax a bit philosophical, articulating why I'm hopeful about our capacity to rise to this present moment.

My neighbor is a bibliophile, and she reminded me about E. O. Wilson's work on ants, referencing his book, The Superorganism. Wilson spent his career studying ants, and has noted how social insects like ants and termites share an important quality with humans, that being altruistic cooperation. Ants are the most dominant species on earth due to their selfless behavior, and Wilson postulates that humans, too, have an aquired trait of other-regarding behavior that contributes to our survival. In other words, it's not survival of the fittest in any individual, selfish sense that wins the evolutionary race, but rather our commitment to the collective, the common good.

My neighbor is also a fan of Richard Rohr, the Franciscan priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM. This past Thursday, Rohr wrote a message about COVID-19, calling for global solidarity. This paragraph caught my eye:  

"We are in the midst of a highly teachable moment. There's no doubt that this period will be referred to for the rest of our lifetimes. We have a chance to go deep, and to go broad. Globally, we're in this together. Depth is being forced on us by great suffering, which as I like to say, always leads to great love." 

Have you noticed how this crisis is changing us? We keep hearing how "we're all in this together," how this cuts across national boundaries, race, ethncity, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, religious or political persuasion. The virus has laid bare the social inequities and economic inequality that have become so pronounced in the last 40 years. It's shows that we're all in the same boat, and the only way this boat stays afloat is we begin to act like it.

We have an opportunity to put this into practice in a big way in District 13. Today, the District 13 Alliance met online to begin hashing out a neighborhood-based support network. The Alliance has connections to each of the six neighborhoods -- The Triangle, Monona Bay, Bay Creek, Vilas, and Dudgeon-Monroe  -- and the plan is to work with the existing neighborhood associations and the Bayview Foundation to make certain that all of our residents are cared for and that no one falls through the cracks. 

We don't know what will happen next, but we do know that it will likely get worse before it gets better. This virus attacks us not just on a cellular level, but it cuts right at the very essence of who we are as social beings.

We win this fight by affirming our innate connection to each other. We do so with hearts full of compassion, our hands extended to those most in need.

I'll continue to keep you posted as to the specific plans the Alliance sets forth, plus up-to-date information, healthy tips and humor, and the occasional musing.  

Feel free to email me with any questions, concerns or suggestions you may have.

Be safe. Be well. Be kind.

Tag