I have often been critical of America. I believe that in order to see a country flourish, you need to criticize it and never stop working toward the goals of its people. But with the country’s current administration, I too often find myself discouraged.
Within the past few months, the uglier side of America was brought out with the hatred, fear and ignorance that the current President and his supporters spew. Yet one of the most disheartening things to watch is the selfishness with which Americans have acted.
From the highest positions of the federal government, to the institutions tasked with educating America’s youth, to the everyday citizens of this country, one recurring theme prevails: acting without care for the overall health of one’s community and country as a whole.
I continually watch young adults my age go out to parties and gatherings with little regard for social distancing, unworried about who they could potentially spread the virus to. I’ve seen middle-aged adults refuse to wear a mask because it causes them a minor inconvenience. I have watched the federal government, and some states, flounder this entire pandemic, putting more and more people at risk.
I have watched universities bring their students back with insufficient planning and sit idle as cases explode across the campus. I have watched politicians and people who are supposed to be intelligent quote misinformation and outright lies. And I have, unfortunately, watched people regurgitate this false information without a second thought in order to promote their own agenda.
I am incredibly disheartened by all I’ve seen over the past few months. As other countries go on with life as though the virus is a distant thought, we Americans continue to suffer and die because our citizens prioritize their own selfish, instant gratification over the lives of their fellow citizens.
We live in a country that emphasizes doing only that which will benefit you, while throwing others to the side. All that has done is cripple us these past few months, in our inability to care, empathize and act with others in mind.
There is an immediate need for drastic change. It is imperative that we start listening to scientists and do our own homework to find accurate information. Aimlessly sharing Facebook posts without even checking to see if you are sharing anything remotely true is irresponsible. Doing so only adds to the massive amount of misinformation that is already on the Internet.
Additionally, it is not even up for debate whether or not you should be wearing a mask. It boils down to whether or not you care enough about other people to keep them safe, because that is what a mask does.
It is purely scientific, and refusing to believe the science is not edgy or conspiratorial; it is stupid. One study of 196 different countries found that those with cultural norms of wearing a mask or government policies enforcing mask-wearing had lower death rates.
We also need to start demanding more from our government — more responsibility, more intelligence and higher standards for the people we put in charge of this country. The lack of a cohesive response on both the federal and state level is pathetic to watch.
There should have been a federal mask mandate, a president who listened to the science from the beginning and an administration that pushed for the health of Americans over the success of the economy. Instead, we sit in a stand-still, incapable of moving forward.
The government wasn’t the only institution that prioritized money over health — many of America’s universities have brought students back with no way to guarantee their safety, but they certainly did not forget to collect tuition. Many schools have since faced extreme outbreaks that could have been handled in a much better fashion.
I am thankful that Boston University seems to be one of few schools that is fully prepared to handle and shut down any virus breakouts. Many of the schools experiencing outbreaks have made it so obvious that all they want is the tuition, and then they will send their students right back home without a refund.
America has a lot of work to do. We have to work on changing the ideals of this country that revolve around self-serving behavior. It is time we start caring about our neighbors, community and entire country. If we keep up with these selfish behaviors that have only been magnified by the pandemic, we are sure to continue on this downward spiral.
