Thread by @kareem_carr

As a non-American living in America, during a pandemic, I'm both awed and horrified by this country's reverence for work.

When most people around the world talk about work-life balance, they mean *quality* of life vs hours of work. Here in America, the trade off seems to be about years off your actual life.

HALF A MILLION Americans are dead because of this pandemic and as far as I can tell a huge number of Americans are OK with this. They would rather talk about the weather.

The first thing that surprised me during the pandemic was the degree to which employers simply ignored it. We were in the middle of a catastrophe so huge it had humbled the entire human race and we were still talking about how we could avoid missing our deadlines.

People continued to work.

Essential workers were expected to risk their lives for pizza deliveries. My Amazon orders continued to be so dependable that it was notable when something was actually late.

People were asked to keep their children, pets and PJs out of work video chats. What bothered me most about this was the fundamental disrespect of asking more of people who were already going above and beyond to provide uninterrupted labor during a natural disaster.

There's a big mansion that I pass regularly on my run. Early in the pandemic, there was always a big basket out front full of basic supplies with a sign that read "For delivery drivers. Thank you!"

Thanks for risking your life! Here's some toilet paper.

I don't want to argue about opening schools but where I come from, "I'm afraid I'll die" is actually a pretty good excuse to not want to go to work. It's reasonable to be fearful during a global disaster. It's reasonable to not prioritize work over your fear of death.

Fear seems right and healthy to me right now. Too many people seem surprisingly calm about all the death.

There have been riots over racism. And riots over elections. But no riots over all the dead people. Perhaps you suspect that deep down that's what the riots were really about. If so, I guess nobody felt comfortable enough to admit it.

Anyways. We're at the end of the thread. So let me repeat. There are HALF A MILLION dead Americans in case it's already slipped your mind.

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