When following the rules saves lives
I’ve spent most of my life doing things most people I knew wouldn’t. I’ve never been afraid of risking my life or disobeying the rules if it meant saving lives.
While researching a form of bonded labor in Nepal in 1999, I went to all the Maoist-run districts the U.S. Embassy was telling me to avoid. In 2002, following 9/11, I spent a year in the Middle East doing human shield work. A cocktail bomb landed at my feet, and there are quite a few times I could have been killed. While Americans and French nationals were being evacuated from Lebanon when the US started bombing Iraq, I chose to stay in the Palestinian refugee camp where I was volunteering. In 2005, while Nepal was under Martial Law and most expats were confined to Kathmandu, my colleague and I were traveling to the farthest reaches of the country to talk to human rights activists about what was happening on the ground. And the list goes on.
But for the first time in my life, I’m following the rules and staying at home to save lives. Not out of fear, or because anybody is telling me to. Or because I’m a mindless rule follower. But out of love. Because I’ve read the research and the science, extensively. And I work with people who are on the frontlines, and I know what’s happening in our hospitals.
It’s strange. It goes against every natural impulse in my body. I struggle to reconcile the part of me that’s conditioned to being out there and active in times of crisis, and the part of me that’s programmed to shut down when I’m in lockdown.
But I believe it is the wise choice. The generous choice. The brave choice.
I know people are scared. Terrified for their livelihood. Antsy. Bored. Stir-crazy. Frustrated. Hate being told what to do. I know that there are myriad conspiracy theories out there saying that this whole thing is overblown.
But ignoring the guidelines or pushing to reopen quickly is not courageous. It’s reckless. If you’re in doubt, talk to someone in the healthcare field, or whose loved ones have died or are in ICU.
Sending love to all of you.
Stay home. Stay safe.