Put aside what divides us, remember we all belong to the human family

The world has been brought to its knees by COVID-19. People’s lives have been massively disrupted. Businesses shut down. Hospital emergency rooms filled beyond capacity. Churches shuttered. Overnight, people in our country lost their jobs and people panicked, worried how they were going to pay rent or feed their families. Loved ones died. The tragic stories deeply upset and cry out for action.

But what action? I am one of those people considered most vulnerable at this time, an adult over 65, actually 78 years old. For sure I can pray like Moses with his arms held up pleading with God to spare his people. And I can call those on the front lines to encourage people and to thank them, but those actions seem so little in a time of profound need. It is better for me to speak up.

It saddens me that we are a nation still so polarized even while in the throes of COVID-19, a virus that does not distinguish between rich and poor, race or ethnicity, people in Iran, Russia or the United States. Still, we manage to hang on to harsh divides among ourselves.

Some cry, “Open up!” Others warn, “Stay shut!” Some uphold the president’s actions and applaud his leadership. Others condemn a haphazard, careless, and disorganized approach that has risked the lives of so many.

Some say “America first,” that we need be concerned about our own people, our needs and struggles. Others agree, but add the United States needs to be concerned and supportive of poorer nations as well. We need to appropriate funding to assist the poorest of the world, not only ourselves. It seems the lens through which we view this crisis, like we do so many things, is red or blue. We take sides and hurl barbs at the other side.

Stop! Coronavirus is not about politics. It is about human life, precious life under a terrible threat. Over 100,000 people have died in our country alone, more than 350,000 worldwide. Stop! Put down partisan politics that divides and puts us at odds with one another instead of binding us together. Stop! News networks offering completely different narratives, further dividing their listeners from one another.

We will disagree. After all, there are no easy or simple answers to this or any crisis. Much remains mysterious.

Yet disagreement need not divide us. Rather, as Pope Francis encouraged us when he visited our country, we need “to confront every form of polarization which would divide (us) into two camps.”

The pope encourages us to listen deeply to one another, to get beneath stances to look for common values and principles that can guide our efforts to address issues.

These days I cannot do much, but I can speak out and call all of us to realize we belong to one family and to remind us to put aside that which divides us. Start listening and understanding the “other” side that think, act or feel differently than we do.