July 2022

We have all been through a period of time in which it seems that literally everything was difficult or changed, and all of us were worried. Most of us have had at least one experience of having contracted COVID, a disease that was entirely unknown three years ago and is in many respects unlike anything we have ever seen previously. Most of us also have lost friends and/or loved ones who have died with this disease. In addition, the responses of governments here and abroad have perhaps been well intentioned, but they appear to have been largely counterproductive. In addition to the massive dislocations attributable to COVID, there are other forces that have for some years been in the process of transforming American society in ways that are unhealthy. To chose just one example, life expectancy in the geographic US had been generally increasing since well before the birth of our nation, until 2014; it has been decreasing since that year. Whenever you read such things, it is natural to expect that the writer is about to suggest that something be done about all of this. These days it seems that we are forever hearing about one or another form of impending doom from which we will be saved if we simply support this or that cause or candidate, because they can surely rise to the implied challenge, “Don’t just stand there ... DO SOMETHING!” That is not my purpose today. As an Emergency Physician I know the wisdom of, “Don’t just do something, stand there.” Standing there for a short time, and using that time to better understand what is taking place, is far superior to intervening in a bad situation that is in the process of correcting itself, or doing something else that will make things worse. What I would like to do this week is to stand here with you for a bit as we try to understand our situation a little better, so that any action we then take will likely do more good than harm.