Thread by @heiltsuk_paleo

When I see anti-maskers, “freedom rallies”, COVID deniers do their thing, I see people who are living with such a poverty of spirit & connection. They are filling the void with these activities that reinforce their blindness and self justifications.

I can only imagine that they are vulnerable to these ideas that COVID isn’t real, or not a serious threat because they lack a proper understanding of science, but it’s more than that too.

North American popular culture is famous for individualism and a rights-based focus. “Live & let live” is not bad in and of itself... but as soon as certain segments of society take this to an extreme & lose sight of the collective social contract, we all begin to lose.

I was raised in a community where elders, leaders, indeed pretty much all adults, expressly taught about our collective responsibility to one another. “The People” matter. As a whole. It was the thread woven through everything else.

This is why I find COVID denialism so distasteful. It has to come from a place that promotes personal freedom over responsibility to care for others. Very Ayn Rand-ish. But it means those who believe this way lack a certain capacity for caring about others.

So the heavy work of caring for others falls on fewer people. Yes, selfishness is tempting... we all have to be taught to resist & control it as children. It’s hard to conceive of a way to teach whole societies to do the same once it becomes normalized.

I’m struggling with humanity these days. Our species seems to be poorly adapted to living in large groups & collectives because it’s easier to lose sight of the value of other people. Easier for hate & discrimination to foment. And harder to fix issues once they get established.

Assuming I’m more than half way through my life, I feel one of the hardest life lessons so far is to just let go of things I can’t ever fix, even when they desperately need to be fixed. I’m working on caring about the ppl in my own tiny sphere instead.

I’ll still use my voice to advocate, support science, speak out against wrong, and hopefully be anti-racist, anti-discrimination, etc, but I feel like I’m running out of steam & screaming into the void these days.

So I will be seeking better, stronger connections with people who care about people. I don’t want to waste so much time worrying about unfixable problems. Thankfully it’s not hard to find others like this in healthcare.

Huge shout out to all you social justice warriors, anti-racism activists, LGBTQ+ activists & allies, especially those of you who are BIPOC, female, trans, and/or disabled. YOU are the ones whose voices need to be heard.

Finally, I raise my hands to all Indigenous family out there. We are radical by just being here. Rep your nations with every ounce of love & pride you can muster, because your light is desperately needed in this struggling world right now. ❤️🪶❤️🪶❤️🪶❤️

This thread really seems to resonate with quite a few people! Per Twitter tradition, I’d like to encourage people to follow @Yazbegrams and check out her first film @OneofOurs_Doc at @hotdocs... she did an amazing documentary on my son.