“WE” SHALL GET THROUGH THIS… WHO IS THIS “WE?” [T, 4-7-20]

Christ In Winter: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter-- “WE” SHALL GET THROUGH THIS… WHO IS THIS “WE?” [T, 4-7-20]

Who is this “we” of “We shall get through this?”

I think I understand what people are trying to say. I appreciate the attempt to be positive. But it is simplistic. It dishonors the “we” who do not get through.

There are a lot of “we” who won’t get through this because they die, in isolation, their only consolation, if she’s not busy with another patient, the rubber-gloved hand of a nurse who is faceless behind her mask. A lot of “we” won’t get through this because they sacrifice their lives for others. They put themselves in harm’s way even for those who are so selfish they will not take the simplest precautions to keep the virus from spreading.

Like most states, ours is on total lockdown. Only essential personnel can leave their homes. A few days ago, the police here arrested a man for disobeying the order. That was the aftermath, though. They arrested him first for driving drunk and running his pickup into a tree. They asked him why he was out. Turns out he thought it was essential to gather with a bunch of friends to drink beer. It’s hard to believe that if you can’t keep six feet away from a tree when you’re driving, that you will keep six feet away from people when you’re drinking. Yet, he is probably part of the “we” that will get through this.

Just because the same buildings are there, and business starts up “as usual” on the other side of this pandemic, just because most of us are still alive, that does not mean that “we” got through it.

Most Christians and Jews and just decent human beings believe that every life is worth living, that every life has the same worth as every other life. That is not true of those who believe in a domination system.

The vocal pro-lifers oppose abortion and euthanasia. But now some of them are saying that it’s okay for old people to die, that old people should volunteer to die, even, for the sake of the economy. That has nothing to do with being pro-life. It has everything to do with being part of the domination system. And make no mistake, the dominators are even now, especially now, taking advantage of the current chaos to tighten their stranglehold on the reins of power—in world, in nation, in the economy, in the church, in the home. [1]

I shall write next week about how the domination system is trying to solidify power now, and what a Christian response to it might be, but for the moment, in this week called “holy,” let’s remember that each life is precious. Some of “we” will not get “through.” Let’s not allow any life to be just a statistic, someone discarded along the way, someone sacrificed on the coronic altar of the economy, because they did not get “through.” Even though we cannot gather for memorial services, it is important to mourn.

We can grieve each life and wash our hands at the same time. Perhaps in that way, as we pray, we shall get through.

John Robert McFarland

1] I suggest that you follow IU history professor Rebecca Spang on Twitter. She is an expert on revolutions, and she points out that we are not just in a pandemic, we are in a revolution.