Do Your Job

Okay, he said as he rolled up his metaphorical sleeves, let's get down to it. 
On Monday, the "president" made the following pronouncement: "There has been so much unnecessary death in this country. It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago, it seems, decided not to do it that way. And the whole world is suffering because of it." I suppose I should start with the notion of "unnecessary death." This seems to raise the obvious specter of "necessary death." In this matter I would only assume that we look to our institutional means such as the death penalty. It also makes me think of the recent spate of parades and demonstrations in which people, predominately Americans, have rushed out into the streets insisting that the matter of losing a few lives is worth getting our freedoms back. If you're in Georgia, some of those freedoms include getting a haircut or tattoo. If you are not a Constitutional scholar, you may not be familiar with the portions of that document that describe in detail every U.S. citizen's tonsorial and skin decorating rights.
The sad fact of the matter is that these folks are so intent on "sticking it to the man" that they don't recognize what a good deal "the man" has given them. All of these governors who have made tough conscientious decisions on how best to keep people from dying are getting varied amounts of support from the federal government. Many of those "unnecessary deaths" came as a result of a woefully unprepared nation operating in a vacuum. The estimates tossed around early in the game were terrifying, and anyone who looks at the current death toll might be tempted to say, "Where are the millions that everyone promised?"
Disappointed?
It reminds me of the George Carlin bit where he played a radio announcer relating the holiday death toll on the highways, "that's down a little from last year - you're not trying!" But that's just it: We are trying. We are doing something that's never been done before. We have stopped rushing forward, regardless of the consequences. And people are staying alive as a result. Hundreds of thousands of people have died, but we are fast approaching a moment where there will be a million patients who have survived. Thanks to the efforts of our doctors, nurses, orderlies, custodians and anyone holding a swab, what could have been is just that: Could have been.
And what did we have to do? Stay home. Stay apart. If only all problems were this easy. Yes, I hear that thunder in the back, the garbled voices screeching about the importance of the economy and how we can't leave a mess for our grandchildren to clean up. As long as those same voices have been raised about climate change and income equity, then I'm willing to let them roar. Someday, a long time from now, we will talk about how somebody stepped up and did the right thing. We won't need to focus on the "somebody" who made all this suffering and death even worse.
But for now, shut up. Stay home. Do your job.