I have zero capacity to have an opinion on proper response to #coronavirus. I do wonder what quarantine means for a society that has almost no understanding of rest, ceasing, & sabbath.
I read a tweet like this & think, "We do not have the culture, categories, or infrastructure to follow this advice."
The one category we might have is fear, but fear is the last thing we need in a time like this.
Also, (per previous tweet) it's pretty telling that the most effective argument for employers to care for their employees is an economic one. What a world we have created together.
Dorothy Sayers has a quote of some kind that I can't exactly remember & I'm too lazy to look up. (I think it's in an essay on work.) She says that societies have built in mechanism for self-correction--we can only go so far toward dysfunction until we reach tipping point.
Unfortunately, the tipping point is often catastrophic (think 2008 housing crisis) & by the time it comes, there's little to do except get thru it & learn what we need to learn. It forces correction that we were too foolish or selfish to pursue earlier.
And obviously, in such times, the weak & vulnerable are the first to pay for our societal sins. This has always been true & will be true until we learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.
All that to say, I have no idea what's coming, but it's coming. I don't think this is cause for fear or panic, but it's definitely an opportunity for humility & repentance.
It's an opportunity to consider our own lives & how we're leading them. It's an opportunity to evaluate the state of our society & what we value. It's an opportunity to face our limits & failures.
And one thing I'm considering is how our society operates with no margin--no margin for anything but constant work, no margin for anything but health, no margin for anything but productivity.
This is arrogance in its highest form b/c it denies human frailty. We have built a society that assumes constant capacity & judges those who cannot attain it.
The standards & expectations we have set for our culture demand superhuman capacity: Never be sick, never be weak, never be anything but successful, never need anyone else.
Times like these test those values & find them wanting. If nothing else, times like these teach us our vulnerabilities. It's up to us whether we learn from them or not.
