THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: Lessons from a Pandemic
“Epidemics highlight the fault lines in our society. They reveal our weaknesses, but they also illuminate the profound kindness, generosity and cooperation we are capable of. We have a lot to learn from them.”
(Elizabeth Fenn, a Pulitizer Prize winning writer, scholar of epidemics and author)
After a year living through a pandemic, we can finally see the silver lining. As the summer approaches in the northern hemisphere, we are starting to experience a certain “normalcy”, at least in the United States.
During these past weeks, I found time to reflect on what we have learned, what we have accomplished, how much we have grown, individually and collectively. We cannot put in words the price we have paid, all the lives that were lost due to this viral havoc. Nevertheless, it is my hope that, in the future, when we look back, we will be able to see that, somehow, we ended up in a better place, compared to the era pre-Covid 19.
We will clearly see that a virus does not discriminate. It does not spare rich or poor; it does not care if we are white, yellow or black; it does not care about our sexual orientation, what political affiliation we belong to; it cares less if we believe in its existence, where it comes from. We will finally understand that blaming and pointing fingers can only backfire, while worldwide collaboration can actually make us move forward.
We will know how much time, family and the environment are precious. The invisible virus has forced us to be locked with our families, has forced us to be creative, innovative – from learning how to teach our children on their school affairs, to cook something different, to enjoy the simple things like a family dinner at home, a walk in the park. We will no longer take the little things for granted, because they are actually, the biggest, greatest things.
We will learn that self-care is not synonym of self-indulgence, because being good to ourselves sets an example to younger generations and for others too. Taking care of ourselves includes constantly balancing the fine equilibrium between working, learning a new skill, being physically active, relaxing and sleeping. We will finally understand that the mind, the body and the spirit need constantly equal attention and proper care for a fulfilled life.
We will be better prepared for the next disaster and be more appreciative towards first care responders, nurses, doctors, health care providers, teachers, social workers, psychologists, the cleaning crew, the story clerks, the waiters, the cookers, the shelf stockers…we will be more appreciative towards all those lives that so much contribute to our constant wellbeing.
We will be kinder, more patient, more united in our diversities.
We all know this is not the first epidemics and it will not be the last. Epidemics of the past established an array of altruism around the world. During the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, residents of Philadelphia selflessly stepped up to save their city. “With no formal crisis plan, Mayor Matthew Clarkson turned to volunteers collect clothing, food and monetary donations; to pitch a makeshift hospital; and to build a home for 191 children temporarily or permanently orphaned by the epidemic. Members of the Free African Society, an institution run by and for the city’s black population, were particularly altruistic, providing two-thirds of the hospital staff, transporting and burying the dead and performing numerous other medical tasks.” *
As I describe in my book, Standing Tall, in the middle of tragedies and loss, from the ashes, always a new hope rises. In 1885, in the middle of a cholera outbreak, Cecilia Grierson, the only woman ever admitted by that time to the Medical School in Argentina, devise a plan to teach other women how to take care of the sick patients, founding the first School of Nurses in Latin America.
Public health emergencies have inspired innovations in education and public health. Starting in 1910, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, which had invented one of the first motion picture devices in the 1890s, partnered with anti-tuberculosis activists to produce short films on TB prevention and transmission—some of the first educational movies. Screened in public places in rural areas, the TB movies were also the first films—of any type—that viewers had ever seen. The anti-tuberculosis crusade was also a model for later efforts to combat polio that relentlessly put that disease at the front of public agenda until an effective vaccination was developed and implemented, and set a standard for future public health campaigns.
The list of what we have learned from past health crisis is endless. As human beings, we have all faced a magnitude of fear of the unknown and we can be sympathetic with the initial responses, the frustration in front the lack of information and solutions. However, now we know better. We have learned from this. If we have not learned from it, shame on us.
Blessed and Healthy Summer to All!
Debora de Farias
___________________________________________
*How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived | History | Smithsonian Magazine
Standing Tall
(Elizabeth Fenn, a Pulitizer Prize winning writer, scholar of epidemics and author)
After a year living through a pandemic, we can finally see the silver lining. As the summer approaches in the northern hemisphere, we are starting to experience a certain “normalcy”, at least in the United States.
During these past weeks, I found time to reflect on what we have learned, what we have accomplished, how much we have grown, individually and collectively. We cannot put in words the price we have paid, all the lives that were lost due to this viral havoc. Nevertheless, it is my hope that, in the future, when we look back, we will be able to see that, somehow, we ended up in a better place, compared to the era pre-Covid 19.
We will clearly see that a virus does not discriminate. It does not spare rich or poor; it does not care if we are white, yellow or black; it does not care about our sexual orientation, what political affiliation we belong to; it cares less if we believe in its existence, where it comes from. We will finally understand that blaming and pointing fingers can only backfire, while worldwide collaboration can actually make us move forward.
We will know how much time, family and the environment are precious. The invisible virus has forced us to be locked with our families, has forced us to be creative, innovative – from learning how to teach our children on their school affairs, to cook something different, to enjoy the simple things like a family dinner at home, a walk in the park. We will no longer take the little things for granted, because they are actually, the biggest, greatest things.
We will learn that self-care is not synonym of self-indulgence, because being good to ourselves sets an example to younger generations and for others too. Taking care of ourselves includes constantly balancing the fine equilibrium between working, learning a new skill, being physically active, relaxing and sleeping. We will finally understand that the mind, the body and the spirit need constantly equal attention and proper care for a fulfilled life.
We will be better prepared for the next disaster and be more appreciative towards first care responders, nurses, doctors, health care providers, teachers, social workers, psychologists, the cleaning crew, the story clerks, the waiters, the cookers, the shelf stockers…we will be more appreciative towards all those lives that so much contribute to our constant wellbeing.
We will be kinder, more patient, more united in our diversities.
We all know this is not the first epidemics and it will not be the last. Epidemics of the past established an array of altruism around the world. During the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, residents of Philadelphia selflessly stepped up to save their city. “With no formal crisis plan, Mayor Matthew Clarkson turned to volunteers collect clothing, food and monetary donations; to pitch a makeshift hospital; and to build a home for 191 children temporarily or permanently orphaned by the epidemic. Members of the Free African Society, an institution run by and for the city’s black population, were particularly altruistic, providing two-thirds of the hospital staff, transporting and burying the dead and performing numerous other medical tasks.” *
As I describe in my book, Standing Tall, in the middle of tragedies and loss, from the ashes, always a new hope rises. In 1885, in the middle of a cholera outbreak, Cecilia Grierson, the only woman ever admitted by that time to the Medical School in Argentina, devise a plan to teach other women how to take care of the sick patients, founding the first School of Nurses in Latin America.
Public health emergencies have inspired innovations in education and public health. Starting in 1910, Thomas Edison’s laboratory, which had invented one of the first motion picture devices in the 1890s, partnered with anti-tuberculosis activists to produce short films on TB prevention and transmission—some of the first educational movies. Screened in public places in rural areas, the TB movies were also the first films—of any type—that viewers had ever seen. The anti-tuberculosis crusade was also a model for later efforts to combat polio that relentlessly put that disease at the front of public agenda until an effective vaccination was developed and implemented, and set a standard for future public health campaigns.
The list of what we have learned from past health crisis is endless. As human beings, we have all faced a magnitude of fear of the unknown and we can be sympathetic with the initial responses, the frustration in front the lack of information and solutions. However, now we know better. We have learned from this. If we have not learned from it, shame on us.
Blessed and Healthy Summer to All!
Debora de Farias
___________________________________________
*How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived | History | Smithsonian Magazine
Standing Tall
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