I read the observations of a respiratory therapist --(A Medical Worker Describes Terrifying Lung Failure From COVID-19 — Even in His Young Patients, by Lizzie Presser, MPro-Publica).Riveting and sobering. I look in on the Trump briefing about virus. Something doesn't feel right about the way he does and does not do what he says is being done. There's too much praising and happy talk, sidestepping, bullying. He is continuing his rallies in a different format. There is an undercurrent. 4. Tota die iniustitiam cogitavit lingua tua sicut novacula acuta fecisti dolum 4. All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought from deceit. 5. Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness. 6. Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue. (--from, Psalm 50 (51)
Meanwhile, there is dark apprehension and bewildering concern over the inability to provide the most basic testing for those affected and protective gear for those giving care.
This, another hard story in NOLA.com: 39-year-old New Orleans woman tested for coronavirus. She died before getting her results.She tested for coronavirus, and her results were delayed. Five days later, she was dead in her kitchen.BY JESSICA WILLIAMS | STAFF WRITER PUBLISHED MAR 21, 2020 AT 11:26 AM | UPDATED MAR 21, 2020 AT 5:17 PM .Sometimes you're keeping social distance, sheltering in place -- and sometimes the gravity of personal stories and losses just fold you with sorrow. |
It's not just about toilet paper and canned soups, not being able to go out to your favorite restaurant, pub, or church. Sometimes it's about the realization of fragility, the tenuousness of civil society, the greed and arrogance of thoughtless players in some cultural-political theater.
We like to say we pray -- for this, for that.
Sometimes we do pray.
This is a good time to actually enter into the uncertain absurdity of prayer with a devout humility.