Conquering the Two Viruses Plaguing Our Nation through the Power of Love

There are two viruses wreaking havoc with American society: The COVID-19 and the “virus” of Racism and Discrimination. The first one is nature made and a worldwide problem; the second is man made and an American problem. These two viruses evince the divisions present in American society today. These divisions have only grown wider and deeper in the last thirty years. American society has only gotten even more divided in the last 4 years under this administration since it has fanned the most divisive ideologies present in our society since its foundations. The divisions present today in our society are political, ideological, economical, and racial. These divisions get in the way of our achieving victory over the two destructive viruses we are dealing with today.

Even when it comes to dealing with the COVID–our common enemy--we cannot even agree as a nation on a common strategy to combat it because of these ideological divisions. The other endemic virus–that of racism and discrimination–is an old one in our culture and a very hard one to eradicate from the fiber of many in American society.

Racism is a destructive virus that we as a society have not been able to eradicate in spite of the 150 years that have passed since the end of the Civil War and the 60 years since the Civil Rights movement.

As much as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused and increase in our levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness–the growth of racism and ideological division has been wreaking havoc with the mental health of millions of Americans. Many individuals feel scared, anxious, and depressed seeing that there is no end in sight to the ongoing problems of violence against minorities and the entrenched discriminatory practices in our society.

I hear it day in and day out in my office: “Doctor, I am down because all I hear and see around me is bad.””There is only bad news out there”; “There is nothing good going on anymore, and I am scared about what is going on in our country and what may happen next.” This is an all too common complaint at a psychiatrists office these days.

Many Americans are terrified by what they are seeing happening around them and they are scared for what may be coming down the pike. Some people are even opting for not watching the news anymore in order to avoid the barrage of negativity being thrown at them. And the worst part of it all is that I cannot deny the fact that their complaints are based–not on neurotic problems–but on the reality of what is happening in our country.

The “Black lives matter” movement is a good example of a reaction to this bleak state of social affairs. When president Obama was elected in 2008–the first Black president in the history of the United States–many thought that we, as a society, were on the way to being past the age of racism and discrimination. However, the one hundred and eighty degrees turn that American society has experienced with the election of our current president denoted that–as a society–we are far from having overcome entrenched racist practices.

The death of many black persons in the hands of the police–the most widely known being the case of George Floyd in front of the cell phone camera by asphyxiation–brought to the forefront the high degree of disregard for human life and the vitriol still present in large swathes of American society. It also brought up the unresolved problem of police brutality in many parts of the United States perpetrated more commonly on minorities. Unfortunately, these actions of excess violence and brutality are not completely absent from being committed against anyone of any race, ethnicity, or color. In that regard, and for years now, this country has been going more and more in the direction of becoming an authoritarian state. Law enforcement practices have followed suit with that trend.

Now, how can we conquer these two most destructive viruses currently infecting us?

It is obvious that the only and most powerful tool to achieve victory over DIVISION is through the Power of Love. This notion may seem as an antiquated stance. Some dub this approach to the problem as “the dreams of bleeding heart idealists.” But the truth of the matter is that LOVE is a very powerful WEAPON against these two viruses: Racism and COVID-19. A loving stance in this matter is based on the Biblical Commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.

When it comes to our fight against COVID-19, our love for ourselves is essential. Without it we are lost. This love for ourselves is shown in how well we take care of our own bodies and of our own health. In practical terms, this means taking a loving attitude of feeding the body healthy food, resting it enough, avoiding intoxicating it with drugs and alcohol, losing excessive weight, and having a good sense of self esteem.

The other side of the commandment, “the love your neighbor” part is shown by caring–not just for ourselves–but for the well-being of others.

But, how do we do that? How do we show love and care in these circumstances? By showing consideration for our neighbors’ health and safety and by being available to them when they are ill, depressed, or lonely.

Probably the biggest show of Love towards others we can have now is making sure we wear masks when we are around people, following the hygiene measures for prevention, and avoiding getting infected to prevent infecting those around us. When it comes to COVID-19 being tolerant of the restrictions imposed with quarantine measures is another form of loving our neighbors.

A loving culture is one that cares for the individual and for the well-being of others–-and the welfare of society as a whole. A “culture of love” is also TOLERANT for dissidence and differences. It does not hate others just because of the different color of their skin, their different ethnicity, language, sex, age, sexual orientation, or any other external by which we all discriminate people.

A culture of love does NOT condemn those who think or live differently. It is a culture of acceptance of human differences. It is NOT a culture of “Us versus Them.” It does not build walls but bridges. It is not a culture of exclusion. It does not assume that a “real” American is a white heterosexual person. It is a generous culture that opens its arms to the poor, the ill, the outcast, the downtrodden–and the different. It is the kind of culture that finds its greatest expression in the writings etched in our Statute of Liberty penned by Emma Lazarus in 1883 that says:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

These magnificent words on our maximum symbol of liberty goes to the foundation of what the American nation is about: A Pluribus Unum. This is our national motto of “Unity in Diversity.” This dictum is at the core of our forefathers conception of what the American Union is supposed to be about. It is a radical concept of a union “with Freedom and Justice for all” as we recite in our schools when we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. These loving ideas were present in the mind of those who penned our foundational document: the Declaration of Independence. In it, these visionary men wrote the declaration’s intention, which was made”In order to form a more perfect Union.”

Make no mistake about it: There can be no UNION in DIVISION. As the scriptures remind us, and President Lincoln quoted in his Gettysburg address to the nation: “A house divided against itself will not stand.” All of these principles on which our nation is founded are based on the concept of the common good; and whenever we talk of the “common good” we are talking about LOVE.

From a psychological standpoint, when it comes to the virus of Racism, I believe these are some first steps to go in the right direction to eradicate it:

• We all–regardless of our our race or ethnicity–have to acknowledge that we have an element of racism and discrimination present in our unconscious minds.
• This is so as we all suffer from what Sigmund Freud called the “Narcissism of the Small differences.” This malignant narcissism means that we think we are better than the other group and those who share our own traits are better than the rest.

• We have to recognize that we are not going to solve these national and social challenges if we remain enemies to one another: Either we solve these problems together or nobody will.

• We have to admit that even when it is more common for a person in a minority to be discriminated against in our society, we can ALL be the object of discrimination at one point or another in our lives.

• We have to recognize that COVID-19 is our common enemy. It is the virus against us all HUMANS–regardless of sex, color, ethnicity, or nationality. The virus certainly does not discriminate when it kills us–the virus kills us all as ONE. So, in this battle we are all ONE AGAINST IT.

• Racism and the Narcissism of small differences is our other big personal and national enemy. We all suffer from a certain degree of infection with this virus–even if we may not recognize it or be reluctant to admit it. We have to recognize it in ourselves and try to make constant efforts to eliminate it.
• In that regard–and in order to really be able to empathize with our different neighbors–it is important to keep in mind the Native American ancient wisdom when they recommended that “to understand another person you should walk one day in his moccasins.

President Reagan in an address to the United Nations Assembly in the 1980s said that “We would all in our planet give up our differences pretty soon if were invaded by an extraterrestrial alien race. That would immediately put us past our nationalism and our differences and would make us all realize we are all earthlings with one destiny in common.”

Finally, President Kennedy in his address to the American University on June 10th 1963 titled “A Strategy of Peace” directed at the Soviet Union leaders at the height of the Cold War said these memorable words:

“So, let us not be blind to our differences–but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

― John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America