By Willard Metzger
Executive Director, Citizens for Public Justice
The COVID-19 challenge
This pandemic has revealed many things. It has highlighted gaps in our public health system. It has made us realize that changes in lifestyle are possible; like working from home and becoming reacquainted with gardening.
But the pandemic has also uncovered more personal and private behaviours. It has produced a sense of anxiety that is uncharacteristic, yet real and tangible. Introverts may realize that they too prefer some measure of human contact. Often, we don’t recognize these individual responses until there is a feeling of personal threat or danger. When feeling threatened, thinking about others is not always top of mind. Threat usually elicits reactions of self preservation and safety. The inherent “flight or fight” impulse is a common and healthy response to threat. Yet left unchallenged this natural impulse can become tainted with inflated selfishness. If we are not careful, instinctive self-protection can sour into an exaggerated disregard for others.
That is why faith is an important guard for the human community. It helps prevent individuals from becoming individualistic.
Most faith systems encourage care and concern for others. Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and others all contain a version of the Golden Rule; the principle of treating others as you want to be treated. It is the foundation for healthy communities.
COVID-19 will test this core principle of reciprocity. Already we are seeing signs of inequitable impacts between those who have lost their jobs and those who have been able to continue employment. Some industries have been hit hard by the economic downturn while others have experienced record growth. This disparity of impact is a good space for the influence of the Golden Rule.
As rural communities linked to an agricultural economy, disparity is a way of life. If our harvest enjoys a good price for our commodity, it is probably because other parts of the country have experienced difficult growing conditions resulting in very low yields. Someone else’s sorrow is another’s celebration. This is not to say that our communities are insensitive. Yet, the reality of the agriculture industry is that some benefit more when others suffer loss.
This produces a certain resiliency. Experiencing a good year also contains the reminder that next year may not fare so well. Conversely, experiencing a bad year is cushioned with the knowledge that next year could be better.
But the true strength of resiliency emerges when those experiencing a good year share a sense of responsibility towards those who are experiencing a bad year. How can we all share in the highs and lows, so everyone can experience health and well being? In fact, celebrating good fortune while blatantly disregarding the disadvantaged robs us of joy and a sense of wellbeing. When we let our celebration morph into selfishness, it results in feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction. This is now the COVID-19 challenge. No one should feel guilty for having kept their jobs throughout the pandemic. No industry is evil for having benefitted by record growth. Yet in a healthy human community, it would always do us well to apply the principle of reciprocity found in the Golden Rule. Caring for others is the humane way of celebrating good fortune.
May we all reflect on how we can apply the Golden Rule in our own personal settings. For the health of others, for peace within ourselves, for the glory of our Creator.
