We just cannot ‘live and let die’
THERE IS an indeterminate number of individuals who believe that we should stop fearing this pandemic, open everything up, live our accustomed lives, and accept that a relative few will suffer and die from the virus. It’s Darwinian reasoning, it’s the survival of the fittest. I thought that we had evolved above and beyond that type of thinking; every life is precious and deserves preservation.
Truth be told, many lives are ‘sacrificed’ by society every day and in several ways, so that we can live our lives in the ways to which we have become accustomed. For example, motor vehicles can be much safer than they are today. Automatic, anticollision braking is technologically easy to manufacture, but it’s not cheap. And, research has shown that a maximum speed limit (limited by the onboard engine-control unit) of 64 kilometres per hour (40 miles per hour) will significantly reduce road deaths. But who wants to travel at 64 kilometres per hour maximally? Although it would save millions of lives over time, we would baulk at costly vehicles that are limited to 40 kilometres per hour. So, we literally accept that some people will die on our roads.
Aeroplanes could also be constructed with huge parachutes that would deploy automatically in the event of a catastrophic loss of flight capabilities and inevitable crashes. But such devices would send the cost of aeroplanes sky-high, push up ticket prices and shrink the profit margins of the wealthy owners significantly. So, we literally sacrifice lives for the sake of expedience and the almighty dollar.
Our society would have far less violent crime if we were to spend more on community infrastructure, close monitoring of children in their homes, improved amenities, increased security personnel, more schools, more recreational centres, and so on. But the cost of such things would burden our budget. We obviously prefer spending more on the morbidity and mortality caused by violent crimes, along with the cost of maintaining our security forces to engage in the futile quest for peace and safety. We also spend heavily to incarcerate offenders.
UNTIL YOU ARE THE ONE...
My father (of blessed memory) used to say, “…one in a million deaths sounds great, until you are that one…” Just over a week ago, about 50,720 known COVID-19 cases were recorded and, of that figure, 1,130 deaths occurred. Two or three deaths in a 100 known cases doesn’t sound bad, until it’s your relatives, spouse, children, parents, grandparents, siblings, good friends, colleagues or you being killed. It all sounds very abstract until you directly or indirectly witness a gruesome death from this pandemic. The vast majority of victims struggle to breathe every second of every minute for days or weeks until they can no longer fight for air. Other organs tend to fail; the kidneys are especially susceptible. Sometimes patients experience strokes, serious heart disease, clots, circulation and/or other problems.
Even if the victim has a mild course of the viral infection, it can lead to chronic lung, kidney, brain, heart problems and ongoing fatigue. This pandemic is causing very unusual and widespread maladies that can become chronic and incapacitating.
Personally, I find it uncaring, callous, selfish and downright cruel for anyone to say that we should simply open up fully and let nature take its course… who lives, lives; and who dies, dies. There are things about this virus that strongly suggest that it did not occur naturally (so ‘nature’ may not be taking its course if it is allowed to run rampant). Additionally, every life is important and sacred; we should not sacrifice anyone to expedience or to the almighty dollar.
Certainly, we can live and let live if we live cautiously, follow the protocols stringently and protect others. But, if we behave as if there is no pandemic going on, in effect we will be saying, live and let die.