"What's a conscience! I'll tell ya! A conscience is that still small voice people won't listen to. That's just the trouble with the world today." —Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio, (from the movie, Pinocchio, 1940.)
“We are a people in a quandary about the present. We are a people in search of our future. We are a people in search of a national community." —Barbara Jordan, (1936-1996), (1976 Democratic Convention speech), First African-American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
The conscience of America is being tested daily during this stressful crisis period.
Hard questions require soul-searching answers—Should I wear a mask? Should I kneel during the National Anthem? Will my protesting in the streets jeopardize community health? What can I do to alleviate systemic racism?
The answers can be found in what is right and wrong—what is true or false—and how these answers affect our collective well-being.
Photo Credits: Venetian Plague Doctor, 1760, print by Jan van Grevenbroeck; "Hazmat Suit," WWI, France 1918,wellcomeimages.org; "Federal Troops-Portland" Oregon Public Broadcasting
How wearing a mask became a political statement is one of the many mysteries of COVID-19. Scientists have told us that until we have a vaccine the best way to prevent infection is to wear a mask, social distance, or—as signs posted in Japanese theme parks read, “please scream inside your heart.”
Psychologists have told us that uncertainty breeds fear. Failed leadership, misinformation, and mixed messages have fueled these fears and are the primary factors causing division in our nation.
Some Americans feel that the Constitution grants them individual freedoms that supersede what Barbara Jordan referred to as “a national community.” Do we want to be part of a “national community” that values science, health, safety, and justice; Do we listen to our conscience and decide what is best for the collective good of the country? Or do we retreat into fear, hubris, entitlement, and vanity for our own personal benefit?
"A quandary for the present—in search of our future.”
