This Young Man Has the Right Idea–Wish He Were in the Majority

A friend from high school who now lives in China wrote an open letter to his old buddies, wondering how it’s possible that Americans are doing such a terrible job in complying with what public health officials are begging us to do.  He writes:

Dear fellow Americans, please help me understand WHY so little respect is being paid in my beloved homeland to this impersonal nonpolitical and borderless pathogen because the rest of the world (except poor Brazil) is acting like Covid-19 kills people – 500,000 so far; is it ignorance of its mortality, total disregard for science, Ameri-centric don’t-tread-on-me arrogance? China, where I now live, is so much poorer with so many more people, yet keeps mobilizing like every life matters. Because I’d like to stop weeping every day from 10,000 miles away, please help me understand WHY is my dear USA faltering and, more important, what can we do about it? Please check out how China mobilizes for 18, yes eighteen new Covid cases.

I think he’s answered his own question.  Principally, we tend to be indifferent to others’ suffering.  This has gotten worse recently, but ever since I can remember, Republicans have had this motto: “I’ve got mine.  Go to hell.”  It’s facetious, of course, but what makes it funny is its truth.

As far as I can see, the United States is unique in the world in this tragic regard.  Do you see any other countries separating little children from their parents, locking them in cages, and having this practice supported by 40+% of the population–who thinks this is part of “making their country great again?”  Are their other nations where the police drive their SUVs at high speeds through largely peaceful crowds of people?

Are there other parts of the world whose leaders are aggressively trying to kick 20 million of its citizens off the healthcare rolls–when 40 million people are out of work, and thus lacking access to the plans they had before they were let go–all during a pandemic?  Where else can you find huge swarms of people with signs that read things like: “My freedom is more important that your health?” What other country has people buying increasingly large cars because of their total lack of concern for the planet’s capacity to support life?

Yes, the United States stands alone in its callous disregard for the well-being of others.

The kid shown above has the right idea; sure wish more Americans thought that way.