The COVID-19 crisis burst onto the scene over three months ago in early 2020, and yet we are no closer to its resolution. The most dumbfounding aspect of this crisis is the unwillingness of people in positions of power to head the warning signs from other countries and to prepare the United States adequately.
The United States prides itself on being number one in many things. Now, we can also claim the mantle of the country with the most COVID-19 cases, and we are predicted to soon have the most COVID-19 deaths. How is it that medical facilities in the richest country on earth now look like overrun, makeshift medical units in third-world countries?
As a medical provider, it is hard not to feel anxious or beaten-down, especially when the federal government refuses to take critical steps that could minimize deaths in patients and healthcare providers alike. When I took my oath and became a doctor, I knew that I was placing the interests of others before myself, and I gladly still accept that responsibility. However, in a crisis like today's, I also expect others to accept their responsibilities. Our individualism in this country is accelerating death and suffering right now, and it is only by putting others before our unalienable rights - to live exactly as we wish - that we will end this crisis.
These sentiments truly hit home when I went for a run the other day and approached a set of railroad tracks. I saw a train approaching in the distance. Normally, I would have waited for the train to pass. However, something was different that day. The stakes of dodging a train and running across the tracks seemed lower in the age of COVID-19.
I quickly sprinted across the tracks with just a few seconds to spare before the train crossed the same path. I made it across this time knowing that I might not be so lucky if I were foolish enough to try that again. However, I also knew that I could live the most cautious life possible only to be struck down by breathing the same air as someone infected with this virus. How absurd that one might lose one's life through such an utterly simple and human activity as respiring.
When I got home from my run, I found my kids - who had been sleeping - downstairs. I told them about the foolish thing I did crossing the train tracks. I did so because I wanted them to know that our choices matter more than ever in these times and that there is no room for irresponsibility or nihilism. If I had died crossing those tracks, they would not have known what had happened to me, and they would not have understood my irresponsible actions.
If I die fighting this virus, at least they will know that I died because I put others like them first. It is true that this is not exactly what I signed up for when I graduated from medical school, but this is a responsibility that I am willing to accept.
I leave you with a quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."
Be well.
