When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. – Winston S. Churchill
A virus has a will to live but it has no life source of its own — it needs a host. COVID19, a highly contagious virus, needs living bodies in which to insert itself, thrive, and mutate into variants that spread and wreak destruction. In COVID, our species is facing an implacable enemy. Based on political power and posturing, some voices would have us believe that our enemy is our leadership and our fight is against one another.
Dear Democrats, we know this is untrue. Our challenge lies in keeping a clear vision of our real enemy.
In many ways, COVID19 is analogous to the sociopolitical contagion running rampant across our globe and causing self-destructive behavior in communities large and small. That contagion’s DNA is coded with messages that encourage us to think selfishly and take out our anger over our discomfort on authorities who are striving to save the masses. Where once we were a society that prided itself on the words found on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” we now hear appeals to oppress others, as though that is a sign of strength. Given entrance, these messages attack the heart of community and expose our weakness and selfish desires.
Viruses are indiscriminate. They survive and spread, with no regard for sufferers’ political affiliation, religious beliefs, economic status, race or any other social demographics. Achieving herd immunity means we, the human species, have bolstered immune systems that resist the virus’s attempts to enter, take over, and reproduce. When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you. Can we come together to keep the enemy at bay while we build our collective immunity? I believe we can and I believe we must, if we are to survive.
Whether the enemy is the highly contagious COVID19, or the contagion of self-serving political rhetoric, let’s work together to keep the enemy outside and thwart its will to live. Working together we will be stronger and see a brighter future for us all. Together we are building the bridge to the inclusive democracy we desire while crossing it.
Yours in the fight,
Flora