Unfathomable Distance

Tomorrow, January 20th, 2021 will mark a year since the first COVID-19 case was identified in the United States. In my state of Washington, a patient was given a diagnosis of the disease that was then confirmed by the CDC. The patient had returned from Wuhan on the 15th. While the official announcement was not made until the following day, the confirmation that the individual did have COVID was made on the 20th. I feel like with the inauguration of Biden, and the expected rowdiness of the event that this will be a thing that we overlook.

Today, at the time of this writing, there are 401, 128 Americans dead from COVID, with a reported 24,210, 344 cases in the United States. Globally of course those numbers are even larger. We still do not know the full implications of COVID on the human body, as some people will barely have a tickle in their throats, and others require ventilation. There are some who report no side effects or permanent damage, and others who even with mild cases, will have heart and lung damage for the rest of their lives.

I want to take a moment and put those numbers into perspective. At the rate of death and current infection, we will likely surpass American casualties for World War 2 by Valentine's Day. In fact, let's extrapolate this, in terms of casualty from war.

To match today's COVID deaths it would take:

1555 Gulf Wars

164 Spanish American Wars

57 Wars on Terror (OEF/OIF)

30 Mexican American Wars

20 Wars of 1812

16 Revolutionary Wars

11 Korean Wars

7 Vietnam Wars

3 World War Ones

.98 World War Twos

.65 American Civil Wars.

Meaning we could have annexed ourselves from imperial control 16 times over with the amount of life lost. We could have Stopped Saddam Hussein from his invasion of Kuwait 1555 times and killed him 57 times over. It's almost hard to fathom those kinds of numbers. And still despite this ineffable proof that not only is there a virus, that it is deadly, there continue to be people ignoring mask mandates, and stay at home orders. People continuing to travel for holidays, and not take adequate precautions.

Prior to last year I would have said that in a time of great trial, that Americans could come together and do things for the greater good. I no longer hold this belief. I have come to understand how poisonous the idea of American Exceptionalism is, and how the lie of the American Individual has infected the culture of this country in such a way as to rob us of our reason, sense, and empathy.

I have seen a lot of people blame this on politics, and while it is a contributing factor it is not the culprit. The culprit is the idea that in order to get what you want you must deprive someone of what they need. It is the same argument that keeps people who make less than $50,000 a year vote in the best interest of billionaires instead of their friends and neighbors. We have sold our children on the idea that anyone is just a moment away from being rich and famous. This is a lie.

Idioms like "no man is an island" and "it takes a village" will garner looks of curious perplexity from most Americans. It is counter to everything they have been taught from earliest youth. The only thing that will save us now is a willingness to come together and cooperate for the betterment of all. And because of this, I believe that we are doomed. Despite the exiting of the Reality TV Star from the Oval Office, I do not expect things to get better.

While having him in the White House has been less than optimal, it gave even the most moderate liberal a reason to act. I think that now a familiar face will be returning they will go back to their calm complacency. The head-in-the-sand attitude that has led them to say such idiotic things as "we have never been more divided" and "this is not who we are." We have in fact been more divided, in fact there are 620,000 corpses as proof that we have. How someone who lives in the country of Jim Crow and segregation can say "we have never been more divided" has always been a mystery to me, but it is the exact kind of liberal pearl clutching that got us here.

As to "this is not who we are" yes, this is exactly who we are. From earliest moments of Anglo life on this continent, we came with visions of genocide and subjugation in mind. Handing out smallpox infected blankets and enslaving any non-white person in sight. We have invaded other countries for finite resources that we have in abundance with no remorse or initiative to seek alternative solutions. The United States has been the aggressor in nearly every conflict we have ever been involved in, and even our entrance into World War Two was not so much a moment of anti-fascist glory as it was protecting out trade with Europe.

I do not know who or what can save us now. I know that that burden has fallen to Black women far too often, and that reliance on them to be saved from ourselves needs to end. We need to save them from us. We need to save the world from us, and I just do not see it happening any time soon. I weep for the idea that my children will never get a passport, because it will not be worth the paper it is printed on. The rest of the world has already shut us out for our insistence that the economy matters more than the people who power it. Offering bail outs and war mongering checks with 10 zeroes behind the number and the American public 1800 dollars in a year.

We are a disgrace to all humanity, and I can't say that it is all the Reality TV Star's fault. We did this to ourselves through complacency, and willful ignorance. The world for Americans is about to get much, much darker, and we have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Any celebration tomorrow at the inauguration will be proof that we do not deserve the advantages and privilege we have been afforded. We are spoiled children in the lap of luxury, and still managing to starve. When forced into the reality of the forest in winter, we will not survive.