A Turning Point, Part III: American Needs A Reset

One thing is clear: the flipped coin is resting on its edge.

It could fall on the side of a societal reset that sees us awaken from the nightmare of this pandemic ready to repair the political, economic, and social divisions that have estranged us, and make us do the hard work of pulling together.

Just as easily, easier, no doubt, the coin could fall the other way. How effortless it would be to ignore racial disparities, and the gap in healthcare, housing, and education, that the current crisis has laid bare. How easy for us to forget this moment from inside the bubbles of our well-to-do communities, with their modern hospitals and schools, green grocers and big box stores.

The degradation of our poor, homeless, and mentally disturbed populations could continue unabated. It will be easier to do nothing, because it is harder to hate poverty than it is to hate the poor; it is harder to hate hunger than it is to hate the hungry, and it is harder to hate discrimination than it is to hate those against whom we discriminate.

Oh, and how we will long for normalcy. We will feel the desperate urge to move society back to life just as it was before Covid-19, and the massive unemployment and economic displacement it wrought, not to mention the sustained social unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.

These multiple crises have further torn the already fraying fabric of society. Hard data are dismissed by a surprisingly large number of science deniers. We may be seeing the end of the Enlightenment. Sure, we bickered and called each other names, but did any of us think we were sitting on a powder keg? Just a few months ago it seemed silly to think that we could slip into a new Dark Age, where reason is superseded by superstition and facts are consumed by conspiracy theories. These divisions are exacerbated by the free-for-all that is social media. It is, after all, exactly how the deadliest public health crisis in a century—helped by a self-centered president, hateful talk radio, and endless cable news shows—got politicized. Now, full cars of crazy speed down the internet highway, a road that famously has no guardrails. (For more on that, see The Trojan Horse of Democracy in this blog.

We’ve moved very quickly from the winter’s frivolity of TikTok dance challenges to a deadly spring and summer, and the reality of the triple turbulences of pandemic, economic crisis, and civil unrest.

Any of these crises would be challenging; all three at once is overwhelming. The pundits all held their breath, hoping to slip through the Trump era without stress-testing a blustering narcissist with a real crisis. Others wished for a “breaking event” to shake us out of our petty divisions and distracting entertainments. Note to them: be careful what you wish for.

Destiny is pitiless, and now we stand naked in the light of a terrible new day. That light exposes the chinks in our armor. Can we muster the effort to save ourselves from ourselves?

Inequality and discrimination are rampant, their victims inspired and no longer willing to wait for justice to come to them. Previously unthinkable levels of unemployment mean no money to spend in a consumer-driven economy, meaning more businesses fail, and more people lose their jobs. No jobs mean no rent, and no rent means a new epidemic: one of evictions and homelessness.

So, how does the coin land? Will it be the highway back to normal, where the sky is blue, the lights are green, and we are oblivious to the plight of so many, or will it be the road less traveled, where we create a level playing field? Will we begin to talk instead of shout?

It sounds ridiculous to think that the scale of change that we need, happening at the speed at which we need it to happen, is even remotely possible, but standing on the precipice overlooking our potential demise may prove to be clarifying. It just might instill in us an urgency that we never feel when our focus is inward, our days are hectic, and our time is running away from us.

This is an inflection point in history, and whether we pick up the gauntlet and make real change is up to us. Either we work together to build a more perfect union, or we continue to tear each other apart. The choice is clear.

How that coin lands is not.