Roger Bikes

Adapt : 72/100

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Roger
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The pandemic is causing a lot of change to happen. Even here in the US there are people taking this seriously and following the directions of medical professionals. Masks are becoming normalized. Social distancing is a thing.

Is it convenient? Not at all but it is necessary. As with anything new and different we need to adapt. If it’s cold out you put on a jacket. It it’s hot you move to shade. If there’s an airborne pandemic you wear masks, socially distance, and avoid public indoor spaces. The more we learn about this thing called COVID-19 the more I know I don’t want to get it.

The number of cases are very low in the area I’m in. Part of this is due to our remoteness, but also due to a lack of testing. We border Arizona which now has the fastest growing outbreak of any country in the world. I see Texas and California license plates all the time. I’m scared and nervous and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. The best I can do is follow the guidelines and hope everyone else does too.

Until now I’ve avoided talking about the Pandemic as I was trying to stay positive. The reality is that silence about this isn’t going to make it better. There is a lot of misinformation going on right now and the best thing I can do is talk about what I have learned, this far.

I had an electrician come over the other day and COVID-19 came up. He made a few comments that were dismissive of the virus. I mentioned the new studies about brain damage in patients. He mentioned that he hadn’t heard about that. From the few conversations he and I have had this summer I get the sense that he is listening to conservative news for all of his news. I will admit that I do not get much news from conservative news media. However I am aware of some of what they are saying, and for the most part it does not seem helpful.

It seems like we need to talk about the Pandemic for at least 2 reasons: 1) to educate others and 2) to educate ourselves. Science isn’t perfection. Science is progress and progress requires an open mind. I guarantee that my biases are causing me to miss some detail about the Pandemic. One of the worst things I can do is be confident that I am right: Beware of Being “Right” | Psychology Today

Never judge an interaction in a … relationship merely by who’s right. Instead, ask yourself how compassionate and kind you are in the interaction. Spend less effort trying to control [the other person’s] thinking and more trying to understand and appreciate differences in your perspectives

The article there is referring more to romantic relationships, but it feels like this should be applied to everyone I interact with. We aren’t going to get through this Pandemic by winning an argument. We are going to get through it by showing compassion to each other and taking care of each other.

Oh and by wearing masks. Please wear a mask.

Workout detail

Kate and I rode around town for a few hours today. The family left this morning headed back to the east cost. It was great having them here but it is also nice having the place back to ourselves. It hit 92F today which is pretty warm for us. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.

Comments

2 responses to “Adapt : 72/100”

  1. Jon Avatar
    Jon

    Oh man, I like this:

    “Science isn’t perfection. Science is progress and progress requires an open mind.”

    Anti-science bias is frustrating to me as I think it represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what science is (continuous re-evaluation based on the best data available) compounded by a flawed concept of what it means to be human.

    As the data changes (which it will) the conclusions will change. That doesn’t mean the original science was “bad” or that whoever produced it was biased (though bias can creep in). A part of the scientific process is accepting the limitations of our own knowledge (that’s where “being human” comes into the picture) and coming to the best conclusions possible while pushing back those limitations (and that’s science).

    I understand the impulse to want to believe that there’s a single knowable and right answer for a complex question, like what to do about coronavirus (or really anything). The reality is that there is not a single knowable right answer for anything complex. So the answer is to make the best decisions we can with the data on hand and continually update that data and adjust as we go.

    /rant end

    Reply
    1. Roger Avatar
      Roger

      Cheers, this post has been hanging in my head for over a week, and the science part is the key I think. Science is more difficult to believe because it isn’t necessarily obvious.
      I think this ties in well with the mindfulness and meditation worlds. The more flexible your perception of reality the more likely you are able to handle contradictions and paradoxes. The scientific method is a method for understanding reality. It has to change as our perceptions change due to the progress of science.

      Mindfulness also helps me cope with others lack of flexibility, and walking on my trails.

      Reply

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