Robert Angotti, Lic. Ac.
We have endured a great deal over the past 12 months. A pandemic has taken over 440,000 American lives and nearly 2.2 million lives across the globe. Old wounds in our country have been torn open and left bleeding. Silos of disinformation have pulled families and friends apart. Economic hardships have impacted millions of households. And despite all of this the evidence indicates that the greatest challenges of COVID are still to come.
The Biggest Surge
I have made a habit of following news regarding epidemiological specialists and their assessment of the pandemic this past year. I don’t envy their labor. Experts have tried to speak frankly to a weary population. Often these experts need to tell us bad new. Moreover, the insights and recommendations of these specialists have frequently been ignored. Many Americans have falsely associated bad news about the pandemic with politics, or threats to their individual liberties. Regardless of these distractions, we need to know what lies in the COVID waters ahead. Moreover, we need to re-imagine how we can navigate this surge together.
The Race Against an Evolving Virus
In this transcript of an interview with Dr. Michael Osterholm you can find a helpful synopsis of our current challenge. I will try to summarize it here. Dr. Osterolm is predicting that the greatest COVID surge is yet to come. Yes, vaccinations will be essential in protecting the population from COVID. The rollout of vaccines is well underway, and in they arrived to us record time. However, our human herd immunity is based upon combining the number of those vaccinated with the number of those who have been infected. This combination isn’t anticipated to reach a level higher than 40-50% within the next 6-8 weeks. Therefore, our country won’t have a significant immunity barrier any earlier than the fall.
Meanwhile, the US is averaging 150,000 new cases every day. Although this number has reduced by 50% since the Jan. 8th peak, it remains very high. Simultaneously, newly mutated strains of coronavirus are circulating through the population. Some of these strains are both more contagious and more destructive. Additionally, we still have an enormous disruption in the flow of information within the population. Millions of citizens continue to see this pandemic as a hoax and will not likely participate in vaccinations. This same section of the population is less likely to participate in the social distancing required for slowing the spread. Finally, it remains unclear how long our immunity will last or if it will benefit us when confronted by these mutated strains of the novel virus.
Dr. Osterholm anticipates that over the next 2-3 months, this convergence of circumstances will result in the greatest swell of cases we have seen. Consequently, our only means of protecting the most vulnerable, our medical workers, and our essential workers is a co-operative effort to slow the spread.
The “Greatest Generation”
Last weekend I watched the film Greyhound. I recommend it. The film is a reminder of the sacrifice behind the moniker “Greatest Generation.” We once had enemies outside of our national boundaries that defined our collective purpose. I couldn’t help but contemplate this as I watched the film. Many scenes were wonderful metaphors of the great common challenge before us now. I will share some of these thoughts hopefully without spoiling the film for you.
An Ocean of Death
The story of Greyhound is the story of a fleet of of American destroyer ships providing protection to a convoy of soldiers and supplies headed across the Atlantic. Based upon a true story, this fleet provided essential materials to European allies in the war against the Germans. However, the region they must pass through was known as “The Black Pit”. This area of open ocean was outside of the protective reach of military air cover. The German navy took great advantage of this vulnerability through stealthy submarine attacks on the convoy. As I absorbed the circumstances faced by these sailors I began to see the selfless sacrifice they engaged in collectively. To step on those ships was to step into a vast endless ocean and into the uncertainty of war. Death at sea would most likely take the form of being submerged in frigid water with no land in sight. Much like the deaths of so many COVID victims, death at sea would be suffered alone, cold and unable to breath.
The Solemnity of War
“His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.”
~Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
The Greyhound film provides a look into the great anguish of leadership in horrendous times. We see the war through the eyes of the ships Captain. As the story unfolds, it’s soon made clear that nearly any choice would involve death.
After a particularly harrowing event, while the sailors rejoice in staying alive, the Captain clearly has no time for exaltation. As the men applaud the death of some 50 German soldiers intent on killing them all, the Captain reminds us, they were “50 souls.”
When lives become numbers, when deaths become statistics, we fail to mourn. When we fail to mourn, we fail to honor life and we begin to slide into a world where compassion is abandoned. Once we reach this place common purpose is lost. Yesterday, January 30th, 2021 we lost 2,641 American souls to this virus. We lost grandparents, mothers, fathers sons and daughters. Honoring that truth is important if we are to prevent more death.
The Death that you See Before you is a Death you Can’t Accept
In the film, the Captain faces a series of no win decisions. One situation involves a moment where the German assault is ravaging the allied fleet from various positions. A cargo ship within his view has been struck and countless sailors overboard are visible in the churning water. Meanwhile, a nearby destroyer is taking heavy fire. The vulnerable destroyer requests assistance from the Captain and his ship’s arsenal. Lives are moments from being lost in either direction. Which lives would you choose to save? Once you make that choice you also choose the death of others.
One of the great tragedies of this pandemic is how we have failed to bear witness to its price. Most of us aren’t in the churning water of this war. Many of us can isolate comfortably and weather this crisis while streaming movies. Most of us aren’t seeing the sailors flailing for life in the water below us. Those that are bearing witness to the toll of this pandemic walk the halls of hospitals and morgues. We need to seek out and share their stories and the stories of those we have lost. Preparing for this next surge will require that we willingly and collectively see those in need of protection. Our choice to save lives is our path of common purpose. If we fail to make that choice we simultaneously continue to chose the deaths of others.
“Friendly Fire”
The final image from this film that I will share with you is the most poignant for me. The advantages of the German submarines is their maneuverability and their ability to submerge the ocean depths. Slipping below the water’s surface keeps them beyond the view of the larger freight ships and destroyers. Like a virus, the submarines can hide in plain sight.
Consequently, forcing the German warcrafts to the surface is essential for assuring a counter assault. This is the naval wartime equivalent of coronavirus testing. Testing is our only means of confirming the presence of the virus in our community.
In the film two American destroyers surround an enemy submarine. With deft action the crew of both ships forced the submarine to the surface. However the German vessel was is in the water between the ships. To take aim upon the submarine inevitably meant firing towards one another. Realizing this horror, the Captain demands a cease fire. However, without a continued assault the German boat is likely to return to the depths and attack again. For the Captain, the killing of fellow soldiers through “friendly fire” would be an irreconcilable tragedy.
The coronavirus lies in the water between us all. We now have the ability to bring its presence to the surface. Testing allows us to take measure of its destructive force. We have made enemies of one another long enough. This virus has set its radar on the DNA of humanity. This virus can bring us together in common purpose or it can tear us apart. I found this film to be an inspirational reminder of how we have been a people capable of common purpose and collective action in our recent past. We may need this reminder now.
Well said Robert! I agree on the comparisons you made between the film about WWII and this pandemic. That time and the people were “the greatest generation!” Everyone came together on the common cause back then. Everyone sacrificed something and willingly did it!
My own father and his 2 brothers were all in WWII. Which means my grandmother (their mother) had all her children, all three sons in the war! Talk about sacrifice! My Dad was on a destroyer in the Pacific around Iwo Jima and saw the horrors of war! His youngest brother made the ultimate sacrifice and was blown up in a foxhole in Germany. He was only 19 yrs old! I can only imagine what my grandparents went through!
So to ask everyone one of us to wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands is little to ask of us! To have to skip that vacation this year to protect yourself and others is little to sacrifice! We have become such a self-centered nation, sometimes it’s beyond belief! Most people are so protected from this, they don’t even know what’s going on in their own city! The sacrificing all the doctors and nurses are making everyday! Other frontline workers too! They all have families of some sort!
Then the numbers of deaths we see everyday…..it is horrifyingly unreal! They are not just numbers…..they are souls, each with a story to tell! So I hope we can come together in this life and death fight and really realize that there is nothing we can’t do when we have that common purpose and put it into action!