I don’t see how I can have a greater concern over either. However, one concern is personal and the other societal. I live in the hope (not wishful thinking hope) or the resurrection. I don’t want to leave terra firma any time soon. I have 15, 13 and 11 yo children at home still, two adult children and two young grand sons. However, I live with the realization that every day could be my last, Covid or no Covid. This is the fate for each of us. I believe that C S Lewis said it best when speaking about the potential for nuclear war.
If the economy breaks down we run many great risks. We are already seeing power grabs by politicians with the willful response of of the masses following them with little question. This seems to be happening at every level of our federal, state and local governments. Our culture and society has been harmed by social distancing. Fear of the unknown, a natural human response, has deliberately or inadvertently become a catalyst driving selfishness. We see this in the unfounded impulse of the masses to hoard. A lot could be said about the many societal responses that we are seeing.
It is undeniable that these months are filled with uncertainty. However, most of this uncertainty seems to be driven by fear rather than sound reasoning. It could be argued that we are acting in a penny wise pound foolish way. Destruction or crippling of the economy will impact an exponential number of people in comparison to the deaths occur because of this virus. We know this because of the number of people still alive compared to mortality rates in countries hardest hit.
What will we do the next time the sky begins to fall? Is this the new norm, self isolation and economic and social destabilization? My concern is that we will begin to willfully destroy ourselves out of fear of the always next unknown. At some point we just need to live our lives.
