The best laid plans. How often have you heard that? Often followed by an ellipsis, or likely a verbal ellipsis... a thought left unsaid, because we all know what it means. That even the best laid plans oft go awry.
So here we are. With a global pandemic. With soaring unemployment. With political unrest. With doubts that anyone, let alone anyone in power, has solid plans, let alone the "best laid plans". And if even the best laid plans go awry, how can we find confidence in the lack of a plan?
I'll start by saying that I have faith in the Centers for Disease Control. They understand this disease, and its risks, better than anyone. It is exactly their purview to advise the general public how to control disease. We have a disease that needs control. The connection seems clear. When they advise social distancing, and masks, that's what we should do.
Where my faith falters is in the rest of our government, our economy, our society- and our ability to play within those lines, to identify support structures and keep us all afloat while the CDC works. We seem to be even more divided amongst ourselves, rather than rallying behind a common enemy. We suffer more and more losses (193,867 deaths to date in the USA), and point to the other side of the aisle to hold that blame.
And all the while, more and more unintended consequences arise.
So, what do we do? Launch another complaint into the interweb, to add our arrow to the volley? Do we write off our broken system, longing for its panacea? Do we proceed with our lives, pretending that none of this is happening?
Or do we pause. Take in the quiet and learn about our brokenness. And learn how to draw within the new lines.
This virus, this pandemic, is humanity's latest challenge. And historically, we do well with challenges. NASA, in trying to design for ways to work and live in space, has come up with countless inventions that support our modern economy. They didn't ignore the laws of gravity, or pretend that space didn't present its own constricts- they acknowledged the science, and innovated within it.
We have incredible examples of how we're beginning to do this.
Accessibility for disabled workers has increased, with reduced travel barriers and assistive technology being utilized in remote meetings. A meeting which would previously happen in person, now comes through the computer and for the deaf, can include captions. The prevalance of this now creates a more accessible community.
We're getting creative with outdoor spaces, allowing for broader outdoor dining, and a resurgence in drive-in movies, and drive-in theatres.
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| A creative approach from a German cafe to enforce social distancing: pool noodle hats |
Distance relationships can seem like even less of a barrier, with more and more video chat features, and virtual gaming like Codenames and catchphase or Netflixparty to connect you with family across the world.
We can color in the new lines, and turn this into something incredible.
But sadly, in more and more ways, we're failing. We're raging against the new construct instead of innovating within it.
This energy we all have, this frustration... needs to be pointed to the very real problems
- The income gap is widening
- This is from the fact that remote work is more accessible to higher income workers than lower income workers, creating a greater financial burden and higher unemployment currently on the population that can afford it the least.
- It's exacerbated by the digital divide, causing an education gap- that students in lower income housing now suffer even more educationally, with lower bandwith, less access to technology, and parents more likely to be in essential work positions and therefore not at home to support their schooling. This will have economic echoes for decades to come.
- Small businesses have suffered, while at the other end of the spectrum, some large capital organizations have celebrated extreme profits- an additional $85 billion compared to previous years.
- Racial tensions are increasing
- Infection rates and death rates have been signficantly higher, by absolute and relative figures, in African Americans
- Black and Asian Americans have suffered increased rates of discrimination during COVID-19
- Concurrently, we're facing 16-year highs for racial hate crime violence, amid ongoing police killings- on the increase in suburban and rural areas
- With increased rates of unemployment among minority groups, it would seem safe to assume that the widenening income gap may also correlate with increased racial tensions as well.
- Political corruption is rampant, and even when exposed, is not addressed
- Mental Health, domestic violence, healthcare access, and so many more landmark issues could recieve their own chapter here on the impact this virus has had, and the work still to be done- but I'm still educating myself on these to better represent the flaws and potential.
- The broken political structure means that regardless of how you feel on the above issues, your voice is not reflected in our current democracy.
This virus isn't going anywhere, and many of these problems are just going to get worse. It is a dire picture, and I've only just begun to paint it. But we have to start somewhere.
We have to learn about the problems, understand the potential consequences to even our best laid plans, and decide what part we want to play in fixing this.
For me, that'll begin with a focus on corruption. On understanding how the American system has drifted from what it was intended, and how we can right it. On listening to our fellow humans on how the current system is failing them, and raising the voices that are underheard. Well, at least, that's the plan.
But as you know...
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