April 11, 2020

As the novel coronavirus has burned its way across America, it has highlighted the searing inequality that has lurked just below the surface of the economic boom of the past generation. It has revealed that self-serving politicians are indifferent to the lives of their constituents, that racial disparities in healthcare and poverty have created a deadly caste system, and that political partisanship has become so toxic that some people would literally rather die than listen to leadership from a member of another party.

At the same time, the pandemic has also revealed the extraordinary character of ordinary people, who have sacrificed their jobs, their personal freedoms, and even their lives to save both their neighbors and strangers they will never know. It has shown that our essential workers are not CEOs, but rather the farm workers and fishermen and janitors and teachers and postal carriers and tradespeople who keep society functioning. It has proved that reordering our priorities and adjusting our lives can renew the ailing planet.

When this deadly crisis passes, we will be faced with the task of building a new era. What it will look like is ours to choose.

In this year’s difficult season of liberation and rebirth, my best wishes to those who celebrate Passover, Easter, and the light overcoming the darkness.

[Photo by Buddy Poland]