The Truth I Cannot Tell

I find myself in a really strange position. As many of you know I am an Ex-Christian. I left the faith 12 years ago and have not once regretted this. I remain friends with a great many people of faith, but by the same token stand greatly opposed to what they advocate. To stay abreast of things I often visit the Christian Post website, and over recent days I have encountered some perspectives that have left me both astonished and dismayed. It appears that so many remain in denial of the implications, dangers, and challenges that lay ahead in light of Covid 19. There is a considerable volume of Trump voters whom are hanging on his every word, listening to his erratic and often unscientific claims, and in so doing leaving themselves at immense risk. I have very deliberately been attempting to engage with many of them, but I do so whilst very consciously keeping my Atheism a secret. If they knew I do not believe in their God then they would cease to listen to me, or assume I was seeking to deceive them. I’m really not, and I’m genuinely fearful of what might lay ahead for the United States. As of the last few hours America has now passed China in terms of confirmed cases. Now factoring in the general poor health of many American citizens, including chronic obesity combined with the peculiar way their health system works, I can see what amounts to a perfect storm brewing. Add to this a fair amount of brute ignorance, and of course loyalty to Trump, I can’t see any good outcome. So I’m trying to gently communicate the facts as we currently best understand them, and to do so in a way that doesn’t belittle or undermine what they have chosen to believe. I may not share their convictions, but in the face of such dangerous ignorance I feel I need to do something to communicate that they face a significant threat. It’s a funny feeling from where I sit. I’m deceiving them in the sense that they will never know that I’m an Atheist, but I’m doing so borne of a genuine concern that a great many are going to suffer if they persist with their current outlook. Does this make me a liar? Perhaps. But if I can persuade just a few to think a different way I would know that I have done something. Evangelical Christians are a core part of Trumps demographic. Many hang on his every word. He’s going to get a lot of them killed. At times like now, it is so very important that we put ideological differences aside. Left, right, black or white, gay or straight, believer or sceptic; we’ve all got a dog in this fight. We’re going to beat this thing, but along the way people we know, either directly or indirectly are going to die. That’s a brute fact and we need to stare it down squarely. So I’m going reach out and get alongside those with whom I likely share very little in common. I don’t care that they would scorn me they knew what I was. That’s not important. It cannot afford to be.

Time To Put Yourself First?

Scenario; You are a 49 year old male with no previous adverse medical history. You leave work in your car at 1746 on a Tuesday evening sometime in May 2020. Due to the virus the roads are quiet and you anticipate a short drive home through the country whilst listening to Radio 2. This is before a badger skitters out in front of your vehicle along a quiet lane, causing you to take evasive action, leave the road, and hit a tree at 50 miles per hour. Seven minutes later a farmer driving a tractor in a nearby field see's the smoke from your vehicle. On arrival he finds the air bags depolyed, the front end pulvervised by an oak tree that has stood since the reign of Queen Victoria. You have been unconscious for several minutes. An ambulance is deployed, but the system is under so much pressure it doesn't arrive for another 28 minutes. Your heart stopped 57 seconds prior to its arrival. Miracle workers that they are, they get your body restarted as the Fire brigade remove the roof from your vehicle. A roads policing unit is also in attendance, but they are down on numbers due to the ongoing infection rate. 1 hour and twenty minutes after you strike the tree the ambulance arrives at a seething A&E department, and you encounter further delays due to the lack of critical care staff, again due to the way in which the Coronavirus has bought the nations infrastructure to its knees. Whilst awaiting triage your heart stops again, and this time there is nobody to bring you back. Your life ends in a crowded corridor, with no family members in attendance.

Wind the clock back to an evening in mid March. The Prime Minister has just ordained that all pubs, restaurants, and similar venues be closed to reduce the number of large gatherings. This will come into effect at midnight. Not one to miss an opportunity, and mindful that this might be the last chance to party for the forseeable you take to the streets. The pubs themselves aren't crammed but there's still people aplenty, but by sheer luck you do not come into contact with a carrier of the pathogen. You end the night with a visit to a Kebab van in the square, which is when your good fortune expires. 4 minutes prior to your arrival a carrier of the virus, completely asymptomatic, leans on the counter palms down whilst she places her order. It is a smooth flat plastic surface. You replicate this behaviour and voila, you are suddenly the unknowing inhabitant of a whole new world. The Kebab tastes wonderful, and it is little wonder that the virus finds an easy pathway into your body. You, like the last customer develop no symptoms, but you are a carrier, and over the coming days you play your part in spreading the disease to countless others. Most suffer mild symptoms, but the contagion rate is immense, and as a consequence a process of mass infection swings into gear which, over the next two months, imposes the kind of pressure on an already failing health system that it could never hope to manage.

So now we return your lifeless body. Nobody noticed until a Porter glanced to their left as they pushed a trolley down the corridor. The body is moved on as quickly as resources allow. Next of kin are informed, but of course never get to see you. You will go down as a footnote in history, another unwitting victim of the disease of our age. Not because it killed you. But because it destroyed the fragile infrastructure we took for granted.

Let's just return to the critical moment here. It was the moment you chose the hit the streets back in March. A decision to ignore the advice, to do as you saw fit. Had you stayed in and watched Netflix or, heck even Porn Hub, perhaps the chain of events would not have unfolded as it did. The ambulance may have arrived sooner, the A&E may have had more resources and been under less pressure. If's, what's, maybe's. In fact the only element you really had over the whole sequence was that initial decision.

Ladies and Gentleman. Boys and girls. Stay home, be safe, wash your hands. In closing, have you ever heard of the phrase Altruistic Self Interest? It's when you do the right thing in the knowledge that by doing so you also benefit. This is the message of our times. It's a good kind of selfishness. It will save lives. And it may just end up saving yours. . .

Made Of The Same Stuff.

Well, who saw 2020 shaping up this way? Oh well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I've spent the morning lurking an alleyways and have successfully robbed three senior citizens. The 3rd one was a bit touch and go because he gave chase on a mobile scooter, but his battery gave out when he sped through a large puddle caused by all the rain we've had. Still, I'm now good for Andrex, and Billy the dog can rest easy knowing that he won't be enticed into the toilets with treats and used used as a glorified bog roll. For the immediate future, at least.
Life's all a bit bizarre isn't it? I don't think we all know whether we're coming or going. As of the 18th March, which happens to be my 49th birthday, I have not yet succumbed to our viral friend. It was a tough decision having to give up licking toilet seats, but I figured I needed to be seen doing my bit. My cunning plan is, I think, revolutionary. I'm going to keep calm and carry on. Take the Government advice, help out where I can. Keep turning up for work and doing my bit there. And resisting the urge to think that we're on the verge of the apocylypse. It's bad, yes. Probably going to get worse, too. But we're a resilient bunch, aren't we? With a bit of courage, a bit of compassion, and a grand old dollop of humour we can get through this. We can. We will. And we'll be the more rounded for it. These coming months are when we're all going to learn a lot about ourselves. About each other. And I already know that when I emerge on the other side I want to be able to look back and say to myself, OK lad, you did alright. You looked out for others, you made sensible choices and made the neccessary sacrifices. I want to feel good about how I reacted, not quietly ashamed that I put myself first. I don't really have any advice that you wouldn't already have given yourself, so I'll sign off with this. Be brave, be safe, look outward. Believe you're up to this. Right now I see a world where we're all a bit uneasy, which is a natural and real reaction. Yet I also see a world that can work together and perhaps come closer. Wouldn't that be a cool outcome? Maybe this is what we needed to really remind ourselves that we're all fragile, all temporal. All made of the same stuff. Good luck. Earthlings. Let's see what we're capable of.