And You Thought 2020 Was Bad…

 First the Good News

British Columbia has flattened the curve on the Second Wave. Following a peak of 700+ new cases per day in the wake of the Thanksgiving Social Stupidity, by clamping down with fairly severe restrictions we have managed to keep our society and our economy limping along, and are now down into the 500+ cases per day range. The European Community likewise peaked in November, and daily averages are now dropping slowly as well. Lesson: we can beat this thing if we pull together.

And Then the Rest

Elsewhere, daily cases continue to rise. Ontario and Quebec are continually raising the bar, regularly setting new records for daily cases. Britain’s count is soaring, exacerbated by a new strain of the virus that seems to be more contagious; nobody has figured out why, yet. Maybe it’s something to do with Brexit. And the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, with 4.5% of the human race, has a quarter of the cases in the world. Lesson: people who can’t cooperate will fail.

Why Does it Work?

The proper rules at the proper time and the will to follow them. My personal experience pretty well encapsulates the situation. Following our strict B. C. rules, Linda and I spent Christmas with a relative who lives by himself (mental health takes precedence). Just the three of us. My only contact with my grandchildren was a uniquely Canadian one; a snowball fight in their front yard when we delivered their presents on Christmas eve. But right now my wife is on the phone with our caring, law-abiding Ontario friend, who is cheerfully talking about sleepovers with her grandchildren. I draw the obvious conclusion that their lockdown isn’t tight enough.

Who Are the Truly Successful Societies?

The one good thing that might come out of the COVID pandemic is a redefinition of what constitutes a successful society — i.e. a society that survives. The new success story will have:

  1. The best attitude towards everyone, especially the sick, the unemployed, and the elderly.
  2. Citizens who trust the government. That’s a tough one, I know.
  3. Citizens who trust science.
  4. An educated general public. See #3. In order to trust science, you have to know enough to recognize when it’s being applied correctly.
  5. A Proportional Representation style of government. Note that Canada is the only First-Past-the-Post country that has been moderately successful at fighting COVID, and we have been functioning with a minority government.
  6. A cooperative ethos. “All for one, one for all,” not “Devil take the hindmost.”

The Bottom Line

The human race did not evolve by glorifying our strongest members. We advanced by working with the tribe to protect everyone. And now that we are threatened by something that can attack everyone, it brings home even stronger the fact that human societies are groups that face common enemies together, not machines for the glorification of successful individuals at the cost of everyone else.

It’s possible that 2021 will show us the light at the end of the tunnel. It would be a grave error to relax and say, “Whew! It’s going to be all over, soon.” The hardest battle is yet to be fought: the one where the end is in sight, but we don’t dare let down our guard.

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