I think maybe a significant portion of
Americans do not believe that life individually and collectively is,
by its very nature, a series of many 'learning curves'. We are
becoming a 'quickie' , 'sound bite', 'don't ask me to think, learn
and grow' people to an alarming extent. When a new challenge
to our comfort isn't immediately understood our
tendency is to panic, fear and blame others. Some
seem to believe we should not have to take the time or
bear the discomfort of learning anything, but that life's
troubles should come already solved on a silver platter.
One place this surfaces is in the fearful public reaction to
any new contagious disease. Now Ebola. There is only one source for
the best information on such a thing in today's world. It is not in
Facebook opinions or religion or politics. It is the purest science
that humans have so far accumulated via the scientific method. Many
medical scientists have been on a learning curve for decades on this
and their consensus, as imperfect as it may seem at times, can give
us hands down the best guidance available. So far, after all the
fear, exaggerated stories and blaming.... the science has
been right. Everyone in America who has contracted the disease had
very intense physical connection to an Ebola patient WHEN THEY WERE
AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR SYMPTOMS, NOT BEFORE or after. This is
how it is with Ebola. Hospitals who engaged the learning curve
months ago have had nearly flawless performance in caring for
Ebola patients and protecting workers and the public. Hospitals that
didn't enter that learning curve made some tragic mistakes and added
to public fears. Politics in places has yielded to the fear and
ignored the science, has refused to join the learning curve and has
thus set a poor public example. Science teaches the best
way to keep Ebola from becoming an epidemic is not by erecting
travel blockades and enforcing unscientific quarantines. Such
behavior is a fearful rejection of sound knowledge and actually
backfires to increase the likelihood of Ebola getting out
of control.
Thankfully, in spite of ungrounded fears and politicians and
radio celebs acting irresponsibly; and because of
courageous front line medical workers, we seem to be
holding reasonably well to the science based course. A
majority seems to have joined this learning curve challenge of
our nation. It seems very important that Americans manage to
generate more trust that God does provide various highly
gifted humans who have dedicated their lives to the study
and expertise of various areas of life. It is good to
accept, with grateful yet attentive minds, their gifts of
learning and experience. Sometimes learning includes a good dose of
following those who know more than we do about a particular area of
reality. But also, the human experience calls us all to
face the reality that no one or group is all-knowing or ever
perfect, including us.
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