Mean Something When You Say Something
In the U.S. Army’s Warrior Ethos, it says, “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” It puts into words dedication to the team, devotion to each other. Long after wars end, America seeks those who didn’t come home in order to fulfill that promise to each other and our families.
During the recent holiday weekend, a colleague spoke with his 87-year-old aunt. A little girl during World War II, she saw her family go to war, some remain in American military cemeteries near where they fell, far from home. Today she’s a widow living out of state. She has health problems and still recognizes the coronavirus threat. On the rare occasions she ventures from home, she gets challenged by people for wearing a mask.
“Why do they care?” she asked. “How is it hurting them, if I wear a mask? When did people start acting like this?”
Dedication to each other is forgotten. Bullies feel empowered to challenge frail widows in the spirit of … what? Showing they won’t be intimidated by a woman protecting herself from a deadly virus in a way that doesn’t affect the tough guys one bit. Smart. Macho.
Leadership failures from throughout the pandemic contributed to this feeling that trying to prevent illness is dumb.
First there was the denial that a problem existed.
Now there’s the false message that it’s over—1,773 people died this week from COVID-19, 275 more deaths than for the week ended April 3.
Together those messages seem to have fueled an anti-health movement, and inspired the anti-science crowd to action.
Maybe we’ve seen too many people embrace the “fake it ’til you make it” philosophy: Babble some buzzwords and pretend to be competent until a measure of competence arrives (hopefully). That may work for selling widgets, but it’s terrible when lives are on the line.
“I will never leave a fallen comrade.”
We can’t let that become meaningless. In April 2023, we still leave more than 6,000 Americans to die from COVID-19. Many seem content to not even try to prevent the deaths. A few, like those bullies, actively fight against preventing deaths.
So wrong.
Attend Safe continues working to make in-person events, meetings and gatherings safer for all our partners. We’ve got the experience to do so. Give us a call.
Don’t leave your people behind.
COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS: In the U.S., 1,773 people died from a coronavirus infection during the week that ended April 10, per the CDC, with 120,820 new confirmed infections—an uptick of more than 275 deaths for the week. The percentage of Americans who received an updated booster rose slightly to 16.7% of eligible people.
Amanda Schleede is founder and CEO of Attend Safe, which helps people to attend to life with sensible safety protocols. Visit Attend Safe online at AttendSafe.com.