Maslow's Pyramid Scheme

in school, we learn about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. it's that pyramid where the needs on the bottom have to be met before the higher up needs can be attended to.

at the bottom is food, shelter, water and rest. at the top is achieving one's full potential...living your best life.

so, apply that in the time of Covid to our "christian" nation and to these words of Jesus, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

what's our reality in America right now? we have millions unemployed. millions facing homelessness. millions struggling to feed their families. 10s of millions are at the bottom of the Maslow's pyramid with more being added to that number every day.

and why did that happen? because we refuse to contain the virus. in the early phases, we heard the phrases "shelter in place" and "flatten the curve" and a lot of us answered that call...for a few weeks.

but then it became too hard. we "needed" our starbucks. our kids "needed" their sports. we "needed" to get back to normal.

and what was the result of that irresponsibility? surging cases and 10s of thousands of unnecessary deaths.

this is the worst stretch of covid cases. anywhere in the world. during the entire pandemic. and our solution to that is getting back to normal? playing college football and opening schools into the teeth of surging cases?

that's insane.

all that push for "normal" is doing is ensuring that we all suffer longer by extending the timeline of the pandemic. and none feel that extension more deeply than "the least of these brothers of mine."

we're a nation that will send our kids to 3rd world countries on church mission trips, but won't serve our own community's most vulnerable during a pandemic. and this is literally the easiest service project ever.

sheltering in place is serving the least of these brothers of mine, because we know that not giving the virus chances to spread is the only way to defeat it. and the sooner we're done with this pandemic the sooner we can safely get back to actual normal.

the longer we let the virus spread unabated the more our most poor and our most at risk are going to suffer. but, we don't give a shit about our fellow man. we're a bunch of selfish, entitled ass holes. just take the simple example of high school sports.

you'll see these "let them play" message boards pushing for sports to resume. and before i address that, look at the current case chart in my county.

we averaged about 17 cases per day from march through june. for the last two months, we've averaged about 100 cases a day. schools are online only for good reason. sports are postponed for good reason. to reopen anything when cases are this bad is to invite more suffering and death into our community.

so, to see message boards pop up demanding our kids play sports...what is that teaching our kids? selfishness. entitlement. me first. literally the exact opposite of what team sports has been trying to teach them all along.

it's the parents saying "i don't care about the community's most vulnerable (lowest rung on the pyramid). i only care about my own or my kid's esteem (2nd highest rung). and i will step over the dead bodies that result from covid continuing to spread in my community, because my needs are more important than the least of these brothers of mine."

take coaches. they give their all to our kids. they spend countless hours away from their own families to serve our kids for not nearly enough pay. and what are we showing our kids when we demand that those coaches coach in unsafe conditions? we're willing to put the coaches and their families at risk of contracting covid after all they've done for our kids. that's an absolute slap in the face.

as a coach, to know you've given your heart and soul to kids only to watch parents demand you put your life and your family's lives on the line as well? for what? one fucking sports season?

we knew it back in march and april...we have to flatten the curve in order to get back to normal. our current covid line is proof that we haven't earned normal.

another perfect example of modeling the exact opposite behavior that we expect of our kids in sports...instead of putting in the work (w/ covid containment), we're trying to take shortcuts. every justification for why it's okay to "get back to normal" is bullshit. we know that. our covid line is out of control and the only thing we should be worried about is fixing that.

no other country in the world has experienced a surge of growing cases like our current one. and every last country responded to surges much less severe than our current one, by sheltering in place. but, see...they give a shit about their people and value human life.

we don't. and have repeatedly proven that by not working to contain covid. and again, what example is that setting for our kids? it's saying the least of these brothers of mine/those suffering the most right now/those most at risk do not matter at all. it's teaching the kids that what we feel like we need from the tippy top of the pyramid is far more important than the most basic needs of those at the bottom of the pyramid.

so here we are. 180,000 dead. Millions facing economic devastation. we know how to make things better, but instead America shrugs and demands to make the outbreak worse by playing sports and opening schools. we're a nation where some people's desire to live their best life is crushing others ability to have any life at all. those of us treading water in Maslow's bottom rung are getting pyramid schemed to death.