No one wants to be wrong. I get that. Me included. But sometimes that’s exactly what we are. Wrong.
Looking back over the last 3 to 4 months, I barely know where to begin.
When it began to be clear that the Coronavirus was going to impact America, decisions had to be made. Those decisions had to be made quickly. In the rear view mirror, I don’t believe that we overreacted. The people in charge – those responsible for making decisions – took the best information available to them and did what they believed to be right. Again, I don’t find this to be an overreaction. However, at some point maybe weeks into these decisions the facts began to be much clearer.
3 and 4 and 5 and 6 weeks into this crisis there were multiple facts and factors that began to consistently surface. At that point – or at those points - it was an opportunity to say, “We were wrong.” “Our reaction and response wasn’t wrong; but the information we based those reactions and responses on was wrong.”
Projected deaths from the virus: Wrong.
Contagion levels from surface contact: Wrong.
Optimal treatments for the virus: Wrong.
Extent & level to which virus had already spread: Wrong.
I could go on. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The greatest problem that we have faced and are still facing is that no one wants to be wrong. No wants to be liable. No one wants to be responsible. No one.
Can you blame them?
The President ceases all travel from China. He’s call a xenophobe and a racist. He used the word “pandemic”. He was accused of inciting panic. Now the same people who made those accusations claim he didn’t act quickly enough. Which is it?
In my lifetime I have never seen a situation or crisis that more desperately needed to be driven by and responded to with scientific and medical facts and data. Yet, never in my lifetime have I seen a situation so skewed by politics and hidden agendas.
What we’ve needed: science & facts.
What we’ve gotten: political science, hypocrisy & partisanship.
For almost 2 months I could not go to the gym, eat at my favorite restaurant or gather with my church family. Yet, all the while I could still go to Walmart or the liquor store. Why? Bad information. Politics. Someone was wrong. And refused to step up - after 3 or 4 weeks of the realization of bad information - and admit, “We were wrong.”
Don't misunderstand me or misquote me: We did a lot of things right.
We did some other things right for a time or season.
But other things, we just completely missed the mark.
The State of California made a decision 6 weeks ago that universities won’t open their campuses this fall. (Before the current spring semester even ended!) Everything will be online. By the time mid-summer arrives, this will likely be a completely different story. But if that's the case, do you think anyone is going to admit, “We were wrong.” I’m not holding my breath.
We’ve been borderline brainwashed to believe statements like you're “Safer at home” and “Safer apart” and “Stay home. Stay safe.” There are now millions of people who are unconsciously paralyzed and scared to death to leave their homes. Millions of people are now isolated because the talking heads suddenly go deafeningly silent when the gospel they originally preached turns out to be false.
You know who I begin to trust and respect? The man or woman who says, “I was wrong.”
You know who I grow more and more skeptical & distrusting of all the time? The man or woman who’s never wrong. And to be clear, if you’ve never heard a leader - on any level - admit they were wrong, then they probably don’t believe they were wrong. Or they refuse to admit they were wrong. That means 1 of 2 things: ignorance or arrogance. Or both.
Did we overreact? Not based on what we were originally told. But much of what we were originally told was wrong.
So, for whoever you are out there who needs to say it but refuses, I’ll go ahead and say it for all of us: We were wrong.
Now, let’s humbly move forward with faith, courage, consideration of others, and a renewed sense of our fundamental need for community. Be responsible. Be considerate. Be wise. Be kind. And every once in awhile, even be wrong! Let’s just have the humility to admit it when we are.
