Does anyone envy our leaders right now? “Difficult” does not begin to describe the position in which they find themselves. On the one hand, there is this novel virus that is unpredictable. We know it can be deadly, but we don’t know just what percentage of the population is truly threatened by it. No one can predict that. On the other hand, in order to stop its spread, the lives of millions could be permanently damaged because of economic depression. Many senior citizens who will never contract the virus may lose all of their retirement savings and not be able to afford the staples of life. Business owners may lose everything that they have worked for which will, in turn, affect all of those people they employ along with their families.
Our leaders are in a lose-lose situation in many respects. If they chose to extend a quarantine, they will ruin the lives of millions. That we know without a doubt. If they don’t extend the quarantine, with our ability to know of and report every single death that might be even tangentially related to the COVID-19 virus, some form of media will report it and seek to blame the lack of “an abundance of caution” on the leaders. In many ways, this decision is analogous to choosing to enter into a just war. You know that you are sending many of your military to their deaths, but if you don’t do that, you risk the death of many more citizens and the culture itself when the enemy takes over. This is not an enviable position.
It is quite easy to sit behind our screens and pound away on our keyboards in a relatively safe position that doesn’t bear the responsibility of our leaders. Generally, we only have to be concerned about how their decisions directly affect our lives. They have to be concerned about how their decisions affect the lives of millions under their leadership as well as the ripple effects across the globe. So, it is easy to play Monday morning quarterback when the opinion you put up on social media doesn’t put millions of lives in jeopardy but only has the advantage of making you look like the smartest guy in the room.
I have watched the criticism of our leaders from President Trump all the way down to local pastors. If we decide to quarantine, we are being cowards. If we decide to disregard the ban in some form, we are being careless. Sometimes we find ourselves in choices between two bad options in waters that we haven’t navigated before. I’ve been amazed at some of the people I’ve heard saying things such as, “The government should have been prepared for this.” How do you prepare for a novel virus? To put such standards on the government is to think that they should somehow be our omniscient God. And then, as other local leaders try to navigate through uncharted waters, somehow, we are supposed to know what to do in these situations with unmitigated certainty. Again, this is an impossible standard to which no leader can live up. From the president to the local pastor, all of us are going to make mistakes.
Good leaders during times like these don’t allow all the hysteria to control their decision-making. They remain optimistic and non-anxious in the way they present themselves to those whom they lead, though they know that they will be criticized for not taking the situation seriously enough. Good leaders make what they believe is the best choice for those they lead, even when they know that decision may cause harm–sometimes irreparable harm–to some of those for whom they have responsibility, though they know they will be accused of being heartless. Either way, they will be criticized. Bad leaders are absorbed in the hysteria and make decisions that they think the people want, not concerned about the long-term consequences but only the short-term approval of the constituency.
In order to preserve our culture and spare the lives of millions from financial collapse, our leaders may have to lift all of these quarantines. This is not necessarily the “idolization of money” or “prioritizing money over people.” People can’t live without income and means of exchange; that is, an economy. We depend upon one another. “Supply chains” aren’t impersonal machines. They are people helping other people. Hospitals will soon learn, if they haven’t already, that all of those “non-essential personnel” out there actually are essential to them receiving the products they need to minister to the sick. Governments will learn that all of those “non-essential jobs” out there are what feeds the beast that they have become. Our culture will not survive an extended shut-down.
We may have to do that which we have done since the founding of our country: take responsibility for ourselves and our decisions, taking measured risks with our lives as we do every flu season, when we get behind the wheel of a car, or any number of other situations. We may have to grow up and realize that the world is not a safe place and nobody can assure us of absolute protection. Yes, in this scenario, some of us will die. People die every day all over the world. That’s life. Be responsible for yourself. Take precautions. Be ready to meet your Maker. That’s what you’re supposed to do every day anyway.
In order to keep the healthcare system from being overrun–to flatten the curve–our leaders may decide that we need the quarantines in place for a little longer. This will be painful if not downright devastating to people. But maybe our leaders know things that we don’t. There is not much we can do during this time but endure. However, you can be creative. Instead of sitting their chafing and fuming under it, take all this free time and learn something new. Perhaps start thinking of alternative means of income for the future. Make a plan.
While it is inevitable that all of us will have opinions as to how things should be done, and while it is also inevitable that we will make use of the media we have to share it, we need to be careful in how we share it. We can be respectful of our leaders without calling them out in a condescending manner on social media. (We can let them talk that way among themselves.) We can appeal to local officials. We can talk with our friends in our social media echo chambers. We can disagree with policy decisions. But we can also, at the same time, be respectful, considering the tremendous responsibility that they have. This is not to say that we need to make excuses for insane decisions. But we can be patient and bear with the weaknesses of those who have authority over us, whether in the federal, state, and local governments or the church.
