Photo by Flickr user Addison Berry
Look Sign
Some people will not read this post simply because it has the word Ebola in the title. I’m not sure I can blame them. Ebola has completely flooded both news media and social media. The facebook statuses that plaster my news feed seem to come from one of two camps. They are either worried that Ebola is going to begin to spread like it has in Africa or they are frustrated and angry with those who are worried that Ebola is going to begin to spread like it has in Africa.
The dichotomy extends beyond just my network of friends. We can see people’s fear in how certain local governments are responding. Out of fear there are people and places that are being quarantined even though they didn’t come in contact with someone with Ebola or even come in close proximity to a third party connected to Ebola. Everyone is trying to find the balance between being safe and being paranoid. I don’t wish to be Chicken Little who made a scene out of nothing nor do I wish to be the boy who cried wolf who made a joke out of a serious situation only to see that help was not there when it was needed.
As I think about Ebola I think not to these main two perspectives that have come out but to a few of my friends who have found a third way to look at Ebola. This third way is what I believe is most appropriate. I believe it stems from what Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book The Preaching Life describes as “looking twice” at the world. It is a practice rooted in Native American tradition. Looking once only gives us a piece of the story while looking twice allows us to see the larger story. Taylor gives an example of what “looking twice” looks like.
Reading the newspaper, I see a map of the world with symbols denoting war, earthquake, famine. There are black lines separating this country from that, this people from that. I note with some relief that the area in which I live is free from symbols. I look once and think, “Thank God I’m an American.” I look twice and think, “God help me, I’m an earthling,” and in that imaginative act my relationship to the world in which I live is changed.
When we look at Ebola we must look twice. When we look once we only see what is going on in the US. We see unfortunate instances of people contracting Ebola from trying to help others who are battling the virus. We see one patient out of nine die. We see health care professionals doing their jobs to help cure the patients only to see a couple contract it themselves. We see people panicking over the though of getting Ebola and then a group of people jumping to criticize those who are afraid.
We then look twice and we see a different story. When we look twice we see thousands of West Africans stricken with Ebola. We see a death rate estimated as high as 70%. We see families left without brothers, mothers, fathers, sisters, and children. We see people rushing to their aid only to find that they have lack of access to the medicines they need, proper facilities, or medical expertise. We see pain, suffering, and death. We see our own fellow human beings in need.
I understand that a virus with a 70% fatality rate is scary. I understand that after seeing what it did to Africa it is scary to think that something like that could happen here. The reality is that the death rate so far in the US is about 10%. The truth is that we have better facilities, infrastructure, and expertise. The other reality is that most places in Africa do not. I also understand that seeing people freak out about a misinterpreted threat can be somewhat of a nuisance, but before you say It’s not that big of a deal please take time to also lift up our brothers and sisters in Africa. If you have the skills and the resources to go over there and help, thank you. If you are willing to donate to an organization like UMCOR, thank you. If you are willing to advocate, thank you. If you are willing to pray, thank you. When we look at Ebola, may we look twice.
The Rev. Brandon Lazarus, a licensed local pastor in the South Carolina Annual Conference, is associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Clover, SC, and blogs at UMC Lead.