Choosing the World in Which We Live
In 1945, 75 years ago, WW2 ended. The years since have been relatively stable for most Americans, especially when compared to the prior 30 years that included a global pandemic, the Great Depression, and both World Wars. There have, of course, been numerous disrupters. The negative ones include foreign wars, economic downturns, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, the AIDS pandemic, drug crises, and mass shootings. Each of those turned life upside down for the people directly involved. However, given that even the 2007–2008 Great Recession had a fairly limited impact — unemployment went from 5% to 10% — none of those events did much to disrupt the daily routines of most Americans.
If we look at positive events, post-WW2, perhaps the most influential was the civil rights movement and legislation of the 1950s and 1960s. That period and its consequences could serve as a poster child for beneficial and impactful disruption. As a result of choices people made, and the courage and sacrifice of so many in a fight against selfishness, genuine progress was made in overcoming laws and policies that were overtly racist. Unfortunately, with racism still an issue, we’ll return to it below, but first we must flag another source of societal disruption.
This one is not an event, but is rather the slow grind of advancing technology. Week by week, the changes brought about by technology are barely noticeable, but the cumulative impact has been enormous. Broadly speaking, it is technology that has enabled our globally connected world. Among the many consequences of that connected world is its ability to rapidly spread both viruses and information. That brings us to 2020 and a pair of notable events.
The first event started somewhere near Wuhan, China, in the latter part of 2019. A microscopic virus managed to find its way into a human. That virus multiplied, spread to others, and then multiplied and spread over and over again. As of June 2020, millions have been infected, hundreds of thousands have died, and billions have had the rhythm of their lives disrupted. How this story plays out is an open question — the answer being dependent on the choices we make — but the magnitude of its impact on everyday life in the US is already without peer since WW2.
Secondly, there was an incident in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. Police arrested George Floyd for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. For some reason they felt it appropriate to put him on the ground and restrain him by applying a knee to his neck. Very casually, for nearly 9 minutes, including over 2 minutes after Mr. Floyd had lost consciousness, the restraint continued. Thanks to recorded and shared video, the world saw what happened. There was no split-second decision involved, nor any imminent threat to a police officer’s safety that could be argued as justification. Mr. Floyd was killed with the seeming casualness of stepping on an ant. Against the backdrop of case after case after case of black people being killed, and more generally of minorities being harassed and their lives discounted, it seems majority opinion may finally be accepting of the need for concrete steps to address systemic racism. As with the virus, how this story plays out is also an open question — the answer again dependent on the choices we make.
Neither the virus nor racism are new for 2020. Viruses exist in the animal world and occasionally make the jump to humans. Such occurrences are a question of when and where, not if. A similar statement can be made in regards to racism. The occasion of another person being harassed or killed, not because of the threat they pose, but because of the color of their skin, is only a question of when, where, and who.
With those two issues, before they were in our face demanding attention, most found it acceptable to ignore — or even downplay — the problems. We choose what we see of the world about us; we choose what issues get our attention. And, unfortunately, we often choose the shortsighted and selfish rather than the encompassing. Racism and biological threats are representative of many issues that have been simmering in the background, ready to boil over given some time and the right circumstances. Climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, wealth inequality, nuclear weapons, terrorism, religious bigotry, poor education, decaying infrastructure, unaffordable health care, gun violence, immigration issues, and ineffective/inefficient regulation are some of the other threats to not just our quality of life, but to our way of life.
Some issues are national in scope while others are global, but a common thread runs through them all. Effectively dealing with disease threats requires more than concerned epidemiologists; eradicating the racist thought that black lives don’t matter requires more than protests by the minority. Progress can only be made when enough individuals set aside their constricted viewpoints and choose an encompassing one, when enough people look beyond the tracks of their own feet and see the paths traveled by their neighbors, and when enough “grown-ups” look beyond their own concerns and envision the future that awaits today’s children. Only then will we have a chance of generating the necessary energy, focus, and discipline to deal effectively with the numerous threats to our collective well-being, and avoid returning to the chaos of a world gone off the rails.
