When we work together there are infinite possibilities. That’s an observable truth. From the perspective of faith, it should be no surprise. We have been given a world in which we have everything we need. We have been given minds and hearts to make loving use of it all. It is all meant for the sake of living in community — with one another and in partnership with all of creation. The possibilities are boundless.
It doesn’t take much thought for anyone with even half a heart of caring to recognize how valuable it was for Alberta to release medical equipment to other provinces. School children are undertaking projects to help food banks and help fund Personal Protective Equipment for front line workers. The examples, as you know, go on and wonderfully on.
There is, however, and sadly, another kind of possibility. It could be characterized, broadly, as opportunism.
Coronavirus Coups. That’s the term that’s been used to characterize the actions of national regimes that go far beyond what is necessary in having enhanced powers to deal with the pandemic. They take it as an opportunity to grab powers, with no end date, that enhance their dictatorial predilections. Then there is some price gouging here and there, and looting of closed retail locations. Yes, opportunism.
Any moral person recognizes the beauty of one and the ugliness of the other here. But it goes deeper. Opportunists among us, you take many forms. Know that you are cheating yourself. There is a simple equation to this. Work together: boundless opportunity and possibilities. Go it selfishly and opportunistically alone: Initial success of some kind, perhaps, but ultimately constriction and dead ends. It is not “just the way the world works.”
The way the world works has been shown not to be working. We must not go back to what we have known if that’s what’s “normal.”