Day 32: Whose Liberty?

Two of our best friends (I’ll call them A and B) are now living in fear.  Ten days ago, in an act of charity, they brought to live in their home a man just released from prison.  This man, (let’s name him C) had been a member of our circle, but had been imprisoned with an extra-harsh sentence for misuse of donated church funds.

A and B are older members of a small religious community dedicated to acts of service and mercy at the most domestic level.  Through the years of C’s incarceration, A and B faithfully visited C in prison, garnered support for his parole, and retained and shared a belief in C’s core goodness.  We were all counting the days to C’s release in May.

Then coronavirus.

Because of the virulence of the pathogen and the close quarters, Michigan prisons began releasing those who were fragile or who were close to their release dates.  Our circle celebrated when we learned that C would be one of those.  One member suggested a drive-by with balloons and horn-honking to welcome home the prodigal son.

But when A and B, along with D, another member of our circle (and C’s closest associate in our group), picked up C from prison, it was clear that C was already ill.

A and B took C into their home, where he became more and more ill.  After years in a small cell, C would not be confined in his guest bedroom.  That is understandable, but he moved through the house leaving piles of detritus —discarded clothes, used tissues, dirty dishes.  When A and B asked that he stop and that he wear a mask, C refused.

But C became increasingly ill until last Wednesday, when B took him to a suburban urgent care facility.  After depositing him at the door, B waited for hours in the parking lot.  Unbeknownst to him, C had been transported to and hospitalized at a major medical center in Detroit.  To no-one’s surprise, but everyone’s consternation, C tested positive for coronavirus. He is on oxygen and receiving an experimental drug treatment.

Now these two elderly religious are left in quarantine and fear.  Both are in their late 70’s.  A is nearly blind; B has had heart problems.  They scrub their house and worry.  And we worry about them---and about D, who has significant health problems and who should not have spent hours in a car with someone carrying the virus.

So now we wait and pray.  You should, too.

April 8, 2020

My brother in Wyoming sent me another troubling story. A young man whose roommate worked in medical facility with one of the state’s worst outbreaks was tested for the virus and told to self-isolate until he received his results. That did not stop him from going to two parties—shared on Facebook Live where partiers mocked fears of the virus-- between the time he was tested and when he received his positive results.

Wyoming has relatively unscathed by the pandemic, with only 383 cases and 2 deaths.  It had been the site of the 1^st protest again lock-down orders.  Protesters perched on street corners demanding an end to the social distancing.

Operation Gridlock in Michigan, April 15,2020

The same show appeared in Michigan this week, as hundreds  drove from outstate Michigan to participation in Operation Gridlock.  There, the cars blocked traffic at the Capital—and kept ambulances from reaching Sparrow Hospital.  Abandoning their cars, protesters spilled onto the lawn of the Capital.  Most were not wearing masks.  Some carried confederate flags.  A large number carried automatic weapons, misdrawn swastikas and racists signs about Detroit bumped up against  signs calling for “Liberty” and “Freedom.”

What is the freedom to do exactly as one pleases without any regard for anyone else’s health or safety?  What is the liberation that prioritizes personal desires over all other considerations?

What kind of culture and what kind of future can we have when “love your neighbor” and “be your brother’s keeper” are overwhelmed by  self-centered, self-seeking, and self-rewarding behaviors?

So now we wait.  We watch.  We pray.  But we wonder.  Will the toxicity of America’s brand of rugged individualism feed the pathogen at our door?

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The numbers as of April 18, 2020 11:28am

	Cases	Deaths
Global	2,256,844	154,350
National	712,184	34,386
Michigan	30,023	2,227

As of April 19, 10:20 am

	Cases	Deaths
Global	2,329,539	160,717
National	740,557	38,979
Michigan	30,791	2,308

The US had its first fatality from the coronavirus on February 29, 2020.

Michigan had its first fatality from the coronavirus (in Detroit, of course) on March 19, 2020.