03/16/2020
Pause
Life, as we know it, is now on "pause". In these unprecedented times of the coronavirus, the world has come to a standstill. Where do we go from here, what can we learn? There is no leadership from our president on how to coordinate efforts from the world's leading health experts on how to mitigate this catastrophic pandemic. Cities, counties and states are left to make their own decisions and restrictions on how best to respond to this disaster. According to an article in The Atlantic, our president refused to accept working tests for the virus from the World Health Organization. From that same article we learned that "the Trump administration dismantled the National Security Council's global-health office, whose purpose was to address global pandemics; we're now paying the price for that". The President does not address our nation reassuring us that his administration is in contact with the world's top leaders discussing what has worked and what has not worked to mitigate the spread of this disease. He continues to spew forth his ridiculous isolationist philosophy of "America First" disregarding the fact that we as humans and governments are interdependent, intertwined and interconnected. Unless we are Native Americans, there is no denying the fact that United States citizens originated from everywhere except the United States so trying to separate ourselves from the threads of our history and other nations and arrogantly asserting that we are the best is nonsensical.
Until we can cultivate a sense that we are all members of the human race with common goals and aspirations and mindfully act with tolerance, compassion and empathy towards one another and towards our planet, then we will cease to evolve. Unless we work together and are open- minded and realize that we are all one, we will be relegated to plodding along mindlessly in our development as a civilization. Once we all begin to practice the religion of kindness, we will realize that there are no boundaries for diseases, for world-wide commerce, for human interaction. Once we begin to accept our physical differences while understanding that beneath the color of our skin or our religious preferences or our cultural habits, we are made up of the same atoms, cells and organs with the same goals: feed and clothe ourselves and our children, be given an equal opportunity to reach our highest potential and live in a world where we are free to pursue these goals without fear of discrimination.
As social beings, humans are designed to interact, to share, to love, to interconnect, so this President's concept of isolationism actually is counter to our innate needs as human beings. Somehow our President believes that if he built the wall between Mexico and the U.S., that would have slowed the spread of the virus as if citizens all over the world don't travel daily to other countries.
So now we are forced to put our lives "on pause" giving us an opportunity to reflect on how we can all better serve each other for the common good of all humanity.
Jordan Arbit, Chiropractor Hyde Park, MA
