On arrival for my NY locums this week:
Reception: Hey Doc, staying safe?
Me: Trying. Anywhere to get groceries?
Him: It& #39;s pretty grim. Can& #39;t even find milk or baby formula.
Me: Yikes.
Him: I& #39;ve got my pistol on my hip in case anyone looks at my hand sanitizer the wrong way.
1/
As this crisis has unfolded, I& #39;ve found that comments like this are less and less surprising to me.

The more I pay attention to the responses of our neighbors, families, and government I see that,
above all else,

our American-ness is showing.

And it& #39;s literally killing us.
2/
We were bred to believe in our individual exceptionalism.
In our individual freedoms
In our right/duty to rebel in order to protect & #39;me and mine& #39;.
And if you want to get ahead, friend or neighbor, you can work for it just as I did.

Don& #39;t expect my help.
3/
So of course, we face a disease with no cure, no treatment, and the only hope for avoiding incapacitation and death of millions is to do the most un-American thing conceivable:

We& #39;ve got to put the good of everyone ahead of our individual freedom.

And we are terrible at it.
4/
Everyone knows what& #39;s happening at the top: a federal government that, among other problems with its bungled response, has largely left each state to fend for itself.

Then you& #39;re left at the mercy of whether your local official believes the science early enough to save lives.
5/
But even officials like @NYGovCuomo and @GavinNewsom who have done such exemplary work daily are holding the true solution as a last resort--a complete, enforced lock down of their citizens--because we want to allow people shades of the freedoms they hold so dear.

6/
They know that we are a nation of & #39;me& #39;s.

For every @SenWarren trying to get student debt forgiveness, there& #39;s a senator profiting off of insider trading.

For every doctor working overtime in the ER and ICU, there& #39;s a specialist making up excuses to not lend a helping hand.
7/
For every local non-profit trying to secure donations for meals for kids who relied on school breakfast and lunch,
there& #39;s a big corporation that will only sell (not donate) medical supplies to the highest bidder.

8/
And for every parent who is working from home, educating their kids, and worrying about having enough food, there& #39;s someone stockpiling masks and toilet paper for profit while they book a cheap flight to Miami for spring break.

9/
If only the ratio of me& #39;s to us& #39; were 1:1.
It& #39;s way worse than that.

And in a time that requires a little less & #39;me& #39; for the survival of & #39;us& #39;, we are woefully emotionally, culturally, and ideologically ill-equipped.

10/
My advice: strap in for a very, very long slog.
Some of us will lose jobs, some will lose family or friends, some will lose their lives.

I hope that in the end we have the humility to recognize this for the reckoning that it is.

And perhaps reimagine what it is to be American.
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