Recently I read a book called A Year of Wonders: A Novel about Plague. It is a fictitious story based on real events that happened in Eyam, England in 1666-1667 during which a town decides to quarantine itself to save others from the bubonic plague that came to their village during the Great Plague of London. Two thirds of the village died, but they saved countless lives by sacrificing their own. They would have spread it everywhere had it not been for the rector of their church convincing them that quarantine was the moral thing to do.
The parallels between the book and our time were striking, right down to social distancing, closing the church, the selfishness of the rich family that left the village, the profiteering gravedigger who even buried one guy alive to take his money, people turning to supernatural things like witchcraft and flagellantism (evangelicalism is the modern witchcraft in our case), mobs who blame the liberals (in this case, two unmarried women well-versed in herbal medicine).
Ultimately, what stopped their plague was getting rid of their worldly possessions. Although they did not yet know about germs (they called them plague seeds so they had some idea,) the rector put two and two together and realized that the plague stuck to these things, so he convinced the town to burn everything. It worked.
Bubonic plague is a bacterial infection that we can now treat with antibiotics, but it wiped out entire towns so many times throughout history. The Black Plague of the 14th century wiped out much of Europe's population. Ironically, it may have ended up making Europe better, as labor was in such short supply that those who survived were able to negotiate much better terms with the wealthy overlords, and a merchant class arose that paved the way for democracy in Europe. In death came rebirth.
We face a choice right now. We can use covid as a means to rebirth, creating a fairer system of economics, government, and justice. The protests happening across the country show that there is a will for change. Indeed, if we don't change, we will all suffer for it. Covid isn't the last pandemic. More will come, some that are far deadly than this coronavirus. And germs don't care what race or political party you are.
But we can't change for the better without sacrifice, especially in giving up our consumer habits that are destroying the world. Covid hasn't stopped climate change, the greatest threat to humanity in all of history. Buying things got us here. Manufacturing. Cars. Pollution. Fossil fuels. Greed. We prop up the wealthy who maintain the system, as the status quo benefits them, because it is too inconvenient for us to change. Part of that system is cheap labor, and cheap labor thrives on racism.
Covid has earned American billionaires $400+ billion more dollars. The rest of us got a pittance or unemployment. They don't pay taxes. We bear that burden, then they take those tax dollars from us in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, and police forces. Now they want everything to reopen because they aren't benefiting from our labor. They don't care if you get sick or if you die. You are replaceable. You are mere "human capital stock" as they have stated.
Police forces in this country were formed specifically to protect the property of the wealthy, a group that 99% of us are not a part. Police are the product of the 19th century. They don't exist to protect us. They exist to protect the interest of the wealthy. They, along with most Americans, have been brainwashed to think police exist because the Big Bad Wolf is gonna come and take their junk.
What if the police enforcing the Broken Windows policy in New York, which put patrols in areas where they saw broken windows, instead fixed those windows? What if we used the resources that WE as taxpayers pay for, to improve the infrastructure of poor areas instead of giving it to massive, well-armed police departments? What if a five year old black boy had a bed instead of a dirty mattress on the floor? What if housing projects had parks and spaces for residents to breathe rather than cramming them all together into tiny apartments? What if those women living in poverty had access to contraceptives, childcare, and health information the way their better off counterparts do? What if we actually spent money on comprehensive schooling in the inner cities that included after school child care, arts programs, and whatever else can help steer kids away from a life of violence, a life many of them are currently born into. What if we got rid of the racist credit system and changing banking so black Americans can have the same starting line as white Americans?
We spend billions of dollars on policing in this country, our tax dollars. What if we trained some of those who would be police in trades like carpentry, electric, plumbing, and other jobs that would focus on fixing those broken windows?
What if Americans truly cared about change?
The parallels between the book and our time were striking, right down to social distancing, closing the church, the selfishness of the rich family that left the village, the profiteering gravedigger who even buried one guy alive to take his money, people turning to supernatural things like witchcraft and flagellantism (evangelicalism is the modern witchcraft in our case), mobs who blame the liberals (in this case, two unmarried women well-versed in herbal medicine).
Ultimately, what stopped their plague was getting rid of their worldly possessions. Although they did not yet know about germs (they called them plague seeds so they had some idea,) the rector put two and two together and realized that the plague stuck to these things, so he convinced the town to burn everything. It worked.
Bubonic plague is a bacterial infection that we can now treat with antibiotics, but it wiped out entire towns so many times throughout history. The Black Plague of the 14th century wiped out much of Europe's population. Ironically, it may have ended up making Europe better, as labor was in such short supply that those who survived were able to negotiate much better terms with the wealthy overlords, and a merchant class arose that paved the way for democracy in Europe. In death came rebirth.
We face a choice right now. We can use covid as a means to rebirth, creating a fairer system of economics, government, and justice. The protests happening across the country show that there is a will for change. Indeed, if we don't change, we will all suffer for it. Covid isn't the last pandemic. More will come, some that are far deadly than this coronavirus. And germs don't care what race or political party you are.
But we can't change for the better without sacrifice, especially in giving up our consumer habits that are destroying the world. Covid hasn't stopped climate change, the greatest threat to humanity in all of history. Buying things got us here. Manufacturing. Cars. Pollution. Fossil fuels. Greed. We prop up the wealthy who maintain the system, as the status quo benefits them, because it is too inconvenient for us to change. Part of that system is cheap labor, and cheap labor thrives on racism.
Covid has earned American billionaires $400+ billion more dollars. The rest of us got a pittance or unemployment. They don't pay taxes. We bear that burden, then they take those tax dollars from us in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, and police forces. Now they want everything to reopen because they aren't benefiting from our labor. They don't care if you get sick or if you die. You are replaceable. You are mere "human capital stock" as they have stated.
Police forces in this country were formed specifically to protect the property of the wealthy, a group that 99% of us are not a part. Police are the product of the 19th century. They don't exist to protect us. They exist to protect the interest of the wealthy. They, along with most Americans, have been brainwashed to think police exist because the Big Bad Wolf is gonna come and take their junk.
What if the police enforcing the Broken Windows policy in New York, which put patrols in areas where they saw broken windows, instead fixed those windows? What if we used the resources that WE as taxpayers pay for, to improve the infrastructure of poor areas instead of giving it to massive, well-armed police departments? What if a five year old black boy had a bed instead of a dirty mattress on the floor? What if housing projects had parks and spaces for residents to breathe rather than cramming them all together into tiny apartments? What if those women living in poverty had access to contraceptives, childcare, and health information the way their better off counterparts do? What if we actually spent money on comprehensive schooling in the inner cities that included after school child care, arts programs, and whatever else can help steer kids away from a life of violence, a life many of them are currently born into. What if we got rid of the racist credit system and changing banking so black Americans can have the same starting line as white Americans?
We spend billions of dollars on policing in this country, our tax dollars. What if we trained some of those who would be police in trades like carpentry, electric, plumbing, and other jobs that would focus on fixing those broken windows?
What if Americans truly cared about change?
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