Staying The Course For The Change We Still Need

Summary: We'll continue to provide our weekly homilies in both audio and text form until we reach that point where I have to start paying extra to store the audio files. After that, we'll need our "congregation" to step up and help cover that cost. If you're enjoying the audio, please consider donating using the form at the end of today's missive. Thank you. In one sense or another, we are all procrastinators. Most often, that moment comes first thing in the morning when, even if we’re not inclined to slap the snooze button a dozen times, we still lie in bed for a second thinking, “Do I really have to get up right now?” We are endowed with a sense of hesitancy born of an abundance of caution. Our ancient ancestors had to question, “If I leave the cave now, am I going to be eaten?” For most of us, that particular concern has dissipated, but as a metaphor, it still stands. We put off what we don’t want to do because, somewhere in the back of our minds, we’re not convinced that the action is safe or worth the effort required to complete it. So, when we think of the terms “procrastination” and “change,” the two don’t seem to go together. Yet, that’s exactly what humans have been doing for centuries. We understand that change is inevitable. The changes someone else makes, often without our consent or consultation, ripple out to others in dramatic waves. Over the past year, we’ve endured a most dramatic example of this effect and the real-world consequences of procrastination. The global pandemic required severe change in how we live our lives: social distancing, washing our hands, and especially controversial, wearing a mask in public. No one liked those restrictions, but most of the world mandated they be applied quickly and uniformly across the entire country. While they still had severe spikes in the number of infections and deaths, they were able to manage those increases and get past the worst relatively quickly. Americans, on the other hand, resisted. We put off having any response at all. Our president told us, “It will be gone by Spring, don’t worry about it.” As a result, this past week we surpassed 400,000 deaths from COVID-19 and we have to ask ourselves, and our government, how many of those souls would still be alive if we had adapted to the necessary changes faster? Procrastination has consequences, and too much of the time those consequences create a larger problem. One of the things that made me happy this past Wednesday was that after the inauguration was over and after all the official celebrating, President Biden went to the Oval Office where a stack of 17 black folders was waiting. In each folder was an Executive Order waiting to be signed, orders that had the power to dramatically change the course of the country. As he took his seat behind the Resolute Desk, the new president, referencing the quick timing of the orders, said, “There’s no time to start like today.” As he signed each one, he addressed critical issues that have been backing up in some cases a lot longer than the past four years. Some of the changes implemented Wednesday evening were: * Requiring masks and social distancing, kicking off a 100-day mask challenge.* Rejoining the World Health Organization* Rejoining the Paris Agreement on Climate Change* Creating the position of COVID-19 response coordinator and restoring the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense * Extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until at least March 31* Extending the existing pause on student loan payments and interest for Americans with federal student loans until at least Sept. 30* “Embedding equity across federal policymaking and rooting out systemic racism and other barriers to opportunity from federal programs and i...

Staying The Course For The Change We Still Need

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