December 2019. NYCers were getting extremely sick with flu symptoms in January, testing negative for the flu, and being sent home with Tylenol. And most were riding the subway.
If only we had a team on the ground in Wuhan to trace the disease in November. Oh, we did. And then Republicans defunded and disbanded that team.
Despite everything I have been amazed at the ingenuity, tenacity, and creativity of working class citizens. Well-off people can believe in gov and science and Trader Joe's... and not think about the thousands of essential workers and support mechanisms which invisibly operate to make their lives easy. When one of the 'essentials' fails, the manicured lawns of America go to hell. But the working class operate in a different reality. Lacking trust in gov and affordable health care, ppl become wizards.
Last night there was a BBC documentary on sick people in Venezuela. Living in a failed state with explosive inflation, Venezuelan patients have taken to growing healing herbs in their garden, bartering for cancer medicine, going to faith healers for spiritual surgery. Everything is a negotiation...including life. If you've ever seen those news segments where fast food workers ration out their insulin medication to make it to the next minimum-wage paycheck you understand this negotiation. Under crushing poverty and an incompetent regime, the ppl still claw/scrape/fight for life. When everything fails them, they return to blind faith that something will lift them.
I think about that documentary and how it applies to this country as it is going through a slow-motion collapse. If we knew what 2020 was going to be like back in December, how many ppl would have given up, how many would have started hoarding, how many would have starting growing herbs in their backyard, and how many would have sought refuge in faith?
If you knew this was virus was spreading in December, what would you have done differently? Okay, after you go through your initial hoarding phase, how would you have lived this year differently?
If only we had a team on the ground in Wuhan to trace the disease in November. Oh, we did. And then Republicans defunded and disbanded that team.
Despite everything I have been amazed at the ingenuity, tenacity, and creativity of working class citizens. Well-off people can believe in gov and science and Trader Joe's... and not think about the thousands of essential workers and support mechanisms which invisibly operate to make their lives easy. When one of the 'essentials' fails, the manicured lawns of America go to hell. But the working class operate in a different reality. Lacking trust in gov and affordable health care, ppl become wizards.
Last night there was a BBC documentary on sick people in Venezuela. Living in a failed state with explosive inflation, Venezuelan patients have taken to growing healing herbs in their garden, bartering for cancer medicine, going to faith healers for spiritual surgery. Everything is a negotiation...including life. If you've ever seen those news segments where fast food workers ration out their insulin medication to make it to the next minimum-wage paycheck you understand this negotiation. Under crushing poverty and an incompetent regime, the ppl still claw/scrape/fight for life. When everything fails them, they return to blind faith that something will lift them.
I think about that documentary and how it applies to this country as it is going through a slow-motion collapse. If we knew what 2020 was going to be like back in December, how many ppl would have given up, how many would have started hoarding, how many would have starting growing herbs in their backyard, and how many would have sought refuge in faith?
If you knew this was virus was spreading in December, what would you have done differently? Okay, after you go through your initial hoarding phase, how would you have lived this year differently?
2 comments:
I would definitely have tried to strengthen the bonds of my community. Mutual aid is crucial.
Loved reading this thankks
Post a Comment