We surrender and call it a victory.
There is a spirit in our land that is gathering many to worship at its altar: victory.
Someone has convinced many Americans that the science (historic, well-documented and reasonable) of wearing a facemask and practicing social distancing (to reduce the spread of a disease) is defeatist. Let me restate that: many have come to believe that wearing a mask is defeat (or defeat’s twin, weakness).
Reality: we are far from defeating the virus that is running amok among our population. Seeing the death rate become zero is something in our distant future. Yet we give up one of our most accessible and simplest weapons and call our surrender victory.
The retreat began months ago in politics. Since that time, many Republicans, in particular, refuse to wear a mask in public. Wearing a mask for them is perceived as weakness. Many consider the wearing of a mask to cast shame on their leadership.
And so, it became political.
Then we began hearing echoes of this sentiment from the churches. Many churches (given special dispensation to open earlier than most businesses) decided that mask-wearing infringes freedom. Instead of honoring the public good (bestowed upon them), many preachers promoted the removal of masks as symbolic. Perhaps pastors see the cloth face-coverings as vehicles that dishonor the freedom bought on the cross. Many preachers plant the seed of doubt (regarding masks) and encourage followers to invigorate their spiritual health by its removal.
And so, it became spiritual.
Politicians declare ditching the mask as a victory. Preachers declare removing masks as freedom. It is no wonder that many fly towards them like moths to a flame; they speak virtues that are American virtues. The problem, in this case, is that wearing a mask is a vital tool to be used to stem the spread of an out of control virus. The virus doesn’t care about victory. Viruses don’t care about freedom. A virus is a mere fact. They exist.
Whenever politics and religion join forces to quash science and engineering, we should be concerned. One cannot defeat a virus with politics and religion. Still, one can control and conquer an infection by science and engineering.
Here in the USA, the virus is far from finished, but we declare victory after a 100-meter sprint when the race thrust upon us is a marathon.
Why do I care? As a business owner who has been hobbled by this pandemic, I need to keep my business open and continue to provide income to the employees that are under my care. As a member of a mixed-age family, I need to ensure that I don’t become a vessel for this virus. I do not want a virus to use my body as a vehicle to travel towards the bodies of the oldest or weakest members of my family. As a member of a complex society, I hope we use our brains and not our hearts to dampen the spread of contagion. As the prophet Jeremiah once observed, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Feelings, my friends, aren’t going to bring victory.
Facts and wisdom, science and engineering, can guide us with simple, elegant, easy to use tools.
Yet, in the past few days, as I attempt to re-open my business, I’ve been extraordinarily disappointed. I see people entering my place of business, ignoring mask-wearing and social distancing.
Such behavior puts my staff and my business at risk.
Can I blame them for following the leadership of politics and religion? They receive swerving guidance from the bully pulpit and the holy one. These are powerful voices that, historically, have guided humanity for longer than science and engineering. Once again, we need to hear the voice of science above that of politics and religion.
It is not that long ago that brave observers of distant planets declared that the Earth is round. Politicians and religious leaders fought those brave scientists.
Fact: the Earth is not flat.
Fact: the coronavirus is infecting and killing people around the globe.
Fact: Mask-wearing and social distancing can help slow the spread of contagion is a fact.
Have we already given up?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. What I do know is that we are indeed losing our grasp on the task at hand. We can see that there is something askew. I think our love of victory and freedom is more important to us than the love of our neighbor. I think we’ve replaced our inner moral compass that leads to compassion for others with a moral bravado that has mistaken boasting and risk-taking as nobler than love.
Is it too late to rally? Too late to seek endurance and run this race like the marathon it is?
I don’t think so. But we need a change of tone and substance in the narrative which our leaders are writing and speaking.
God bless us despite ourselves. And maybe He will.

Ethics Pandemic Writing masks politics religion science