59. Belief

 Day 10 of my quarantine

 

I’m sure that most of you reading this believe, like I do, that Covid-19 is serious business, and that wearing masks, distancing, and, when necessary, curtailing business and travel are all good. 

 

But stop for a minute and try to think about people who don’t believe like we do. There are the easy ones like the Texas Governor and President Trump, who believe that the cure—shutting down—is worse than the disease.  Maybe there is political calculation involved, but assume that they honestly believe what they say. 

 

Assume also that the person in your neighborhood who refuses to wear a mask, the store clerk who lets the mask slide below the nose, and the letter to the editor writer who claims that the whole thing is being blown out of proportion, believe as strongly as you and I do—that there beliefs are as deeply held as ours. 

 

* * *

 

In Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi says that beliefs precede actions; there would not have been chattel slavery in the United States without the 15^th and 16^th century European development of the idea of white supremacy in a tiered world. Once that belief was instituted across a society, slavery—and exclusion laws and land theft—became legitimate. 

 

Relinquishing beliefs is tough: how long for slavery? Or for the lifelong Catholic—or Episcopalian or Mormon—who relinquishes belief, or converts to another religion. You might know or be one.

 

But this is different, you say: it’s not religion or custom, but “science.” Tell Black Americans who know about the Tuskegee syphilis experiments about science. And talk with American Indians about epidemic diseases and Western belief systems. Look at contemporary public reactions to the 1918 Influenza. 

 

The believers on the other side of this one are not going to jump on our side with the waving of a science wand or the threat of jail or closure. This is serious business, and we need to be humble, and realize that the reasons for and strengths of beliefs vary. That it will be a combination of science, good sense, carrots, sticks and compassion that will see us through this very dangerous time. 

 

I hope--and think--steady Joe’s got the stuff to lead us through it.