The Garden of Babel

 We are in a world that is flooded with more words being said, spoken, typed, read, and listened to than in all of human history, and because of this we are drowning.

 As I type this, 183,374 deaths from the virus have been reported. People keep saying the numbers but very few really want to embrace it. In this country, where desire is the true ethos, the cases are growing. Nineteen states have increased numbers, but this all seems like sports scores rather than what it is. In "The Plague", Camus speaks of how everyone finally grows numb and stops caring. However, the grind was different because the town was closed and everyone was on the same page. Here, within this land, we are on millions of different pages with desire being the editor.

Colleges are opening and trying to start classes with students in the flesh. If this is ever read by anyone some time from now once this is all over,  I am sure you are wondering why, given the number of deaths stated and the infection rate on the rise, why would a mass collection of people do something so foolish. I have but one word to tell you: Pride. To be more exact: Hubris.

In the Old Testament, it was pride that caused both the fall of Man and the Tower of Babel.  In the garden of Eden, it was said that Adam and Eve had everything, literally a Paradise. They had everything except ONE thing, and that one thing became greater than all else. The situation is the same here and now. I will not be so foolish as to say we live in Paradise, but we to possess a technology that even two  hundred years ago would may have been perceived as Magic, something beyond the realm of human ability. But, we are very much within this Magic and unsatisfied.

We are in the middle of what could very well be the defining moment of the United States and the virus is having an impact. How could it not? The problem is that we have become a country divided by words and desires instead of being pulled together for the common good. The virus, that will most likely kill almost 250,000 by the day of the election, has become nothing more than an inconvenience we should no longer bother with. 

If you doubt my statements about hubris in the face of plague, allow me to state the following: gyms and restaurants for indoor dining will be opening here in jersey with a week. Yes. You read that right. Any person with even the slightest knowledge of virology knows this is a bad idea. But we a re doing it regardless. Why? Because the majority of our personal desires outstrip our belief in sacrifice for the common good.  Everyone in charge knows full well that things will get worse and it will all shut down again, with the wake of the carnage being the cost of this spoiled child decision.

There is a clause that states what these places can only work at 25% capacity. Please note that restaurants and gyms are rarely at 75% capacity at full swing. The legal capacity and the amount of seating is different. If you doubt my words, please go to any bar or club at FULL capacity. 

But let's say that they actually do keep it at a 25% that is to the scale of the seating. How could this economically be feasible?! While gyms are simply large spaces that make money whether you go or not via their monthly fee, restaurants are not. The food service industry is known for having razor thin margins and having a tough time during the best of times. It just does not make sense in the same way that trying to have children in school wear masks and keep the needed precautions. And, for the record, even if all the precautions are being done, it will still spread to some extent. This is biology, not desire or ideology.

We have more than any people in the history of the world, a garden of technology and words, and our fall shall happen as do all the falls before: from pride.