With three words, Dr. Alex Garza took me back to a Catholic hymn of my youth.
鈥淚 am scared,鈥 Garza said during the dramatic news conference last week at which he and other medical leaders in St. 不良研究所导航网址 and across Missouri asked Gov. Mike Parson to issue a mask mandate and a statewide 鈥渟afer-at-home鈥 order.
Garza鈥檚 fear wasn鈥檛 inward-facing but outward. He鈥檚 not so much afraid for himself, I suspect, or he and other health care workers wouldn鈥檛 be doing the courageous work on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Garza is afraid for his colleagues, for the people he sees in his nearly-at-capacity hospital, for those who will be infected with COVID-19 soon and might not have a hospital bed. He鈥檚 scared for a state and a nation that haven鈥檛 yet used the bonds of our common humanity to come together to battle this killer virus.
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BE NOT AFRAID.
Like Garza, I grew up Catholic. One of the most inspirational songs I remember singing at church, on retreat or at funerals, was written by Father Robert J. Dufford, a Jesuit priest.
The song has been on my mind a lot lately. It started during former Vice President Joe Biden鈥檚 speech a few days after Election Day when he cleared the Electoral College bar to become the nation鈥檚 president-elect. Biden spoke of one of his favorite Catholic hymns: The hymn, Biden said, 鈥渃aptures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.鈥
Music can do that. Whether it鈥檚 from a faith tradition 鈥 Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, whatever 鈥 or whether it is the secular music that takes us back to a different time or finds a way to celebrate our common purpose, like Bruce Springsteen鈥檚 鈥淏orn in the U.S.A.,鈥 or Lee Greenwood鈥檚 鈥淕od Bless the U.S.A.鈥
My wife, who grew up in a different Christian denomination, asked if I knew of the hymn mentioned by Biden. Indeed, I did. In high school, I was in two choirs at the church I grew up in, St. Thomas More. In the adult choir, where I sang with my mom, 鈥淥n Eagle鈥檚 Wings鈥 was a staple; in the younger, guitar-based folk music group, we were more likely to sing 鈥淏e Not Afraid.鈥
I GO BEFORE YOU ALWAYS.
Fear, the subject of the song, has been a constant topic since the pandemic swept this nation in early 2020. There are those who suggest we should not be afraid to live, to dine in large groups, to open up businesses and schools, to practice our freedom to not wear masks. In Missouri, those are the folks who are in charge, politically speaking, or who are driving the conversation by shouting the loudest.
Last week, a group of Missouri Republican senators, for instance, met together in a caucus at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson to discuss their plan for a special session, called by Parson to pass a bill that would shield businesses and other groups, perhaps even governmental entities, from lawsuits related to those who have suffered or died from COVID-19. Now that special session has been put on hold because the senators met maskless indoors, and some lawmakers and their staff members are infected by the virus. They weren鈥檛 afraid. Now, apparently, they are. Singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette might call that .
COME, FOLLOW ME.
Lately, I鈥檝e struggled with my faith, in part because so many in politics have weaponized religion to use it as a wedge to divide us, rather than bringing us together. Some churches have defied coronavirus restrictions. Some Christians use faith as a political identifier. Former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth warned us about this 14 years ago in his book, Rather than using faith as a political wedge, it should be a uniting force, helping people of all backgrounds understand their common humanity, Danforth wrote.
The nation didn鈥檛 listen. These days we shout at each other, over everything, and the pandemic has magnified our divide, with some members of our various tribes demonizing teachers, and even health care workers, for having the audacity to express their fears as the pandemic has taken more than 240,000 American souls to their final resting places.
AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.
There will come a time when Garza and his fellow health care heroes receive a well-deserved respite, but for now, they want us to be afraid. 鈥淭he wolf is at the door,鈥 wrote the Missouri Hospital Association last week in its letter to Parson begging for a statewide mask mandate.
Fear, our medical experts, many of them men and women of faith, are telling us, isn鈥檛 weakness, but the common bond that will strengthen our resolve to defeat the virus knocking at our door.