COVID-19 and Building Our Fate

The Builders

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;
Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,
Both the unseen and the seen;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain
To those turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And one boundless reach of sky.

We are suffering a worldwide pandemic never before equaled in modern times. COVID-19, the coronavirus, is spreading disease and death across America. In most states the community spread is occurring rapidly in an ever-escalating acceleration phase. The duration and severity of each phase of the virus can vary depending on the characteristics of the virus and the public health response.

Officials like Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who heads the United Nations agency, said the World Health Organization was "deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity" of the outbreak. Tedros said …

"All countries can still change the course of this pandemic – if countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response."

To slow the spread of the coronavirus, federal and state governments are implementing drastic measures to flatten the curve of the contraction. Unprecedented school and business closings have changed the environment of the country. People are expressing emotions ranging from mild anxiety to extreme fear as they cope to steer these uncharted waters. It is imperative that people stay informed and do everything possible to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Still …

Some segments of the public ignore suggestions and regulations imposed by officials as they continue to gather in public, risk contamination, and gamble with their lives and the lives of others. In their disbelief and indifference they ask: “Why do we have to follow these rules of conduct and social distancing when we believe the virus will not affect us?”

Such people selfishly resist proactive efforts, preferring not to believe public risks outweigh the personal sacrifices they must make.

To be socially conscious during a pandemic, each one of us has to go through an internal analysis of the things we do … and rightly so. Someone who needs to be coerced or forced to heed life-saving measures has a hollow understanding of the common good and the restraints necessary to assure the safety of the concentric society surrounding him or her. Such an egotistical person looks to support his or her displeasure at being inconvenienced with any and all reasons to doubt health models and credible news reports. In a word, that agnostic is a risk … a risk that endangers the health of all.

Those human risk-takers lack sufficient vision to understand that we, indeed, are “architects of fate.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow reminds us that builders of a safe society must do the work “seen and unseen” to “strengthen the rest.” As the poet says, the “firm and amble base” we design today “shall tomorrow find its place.”

Longfellow reminds us all people, no matter who they are, have contributed to the history and the “walls of time.” The speaker in the poem is describing the butterfly effect in which even the smallest act changes or “supports the rest.” Deeds which are considered “massive” only have the impact they do because of the smaller actions.

COVID-19 is the enemy of all people. As Longfellow wrote long ago, “All are architects of Fate/Working in these walls of Time.” All citizens of 2020 must heed these words and become “builders” of a safe and healthy nation, not detractors who refuse to obey “Stay At Home Orders” and other important safety measures that save lives. Actions large and small – those by huge groups and by each individual – will defeat the coronavirus and allow us to reach a new “clean and beautiful boundless reach of sky.”