For as long as I can remember, Remembrance Day has been an important date on my calendar. Many people in my family served and died for their country, and I was raised to understand the importance of their sacrifice — and the privilege of not having to make the choices they did. And while we have all benefited enormously from the absence of widespread armed conflict over the past few generations, we’ve also lost the sense of mutual service and sacrifice that were forged in the wars of the 20th century. In time, that could create its own set of tragic and unnecessary casualties. 

That’s one of the enduring lessons for me of the past five years, which have been heavily informed by our evolving response to a global pandemic. In its earliest moments we were united, banging pots and pans on our balconies during the shift change at hospitals and wearing masks on our suddenly perilous trips to the grocery store. But as the shock of COVID’s potential consequences began to wear off, our natural inclinations towards selfishness seemed to kick into overdrive — accelerated, it should be said, by both politicians and cultural entrepreneurs who thrive on fanning the flames of outrage and social media platforms that live to spread it like digital wildfire. 

In just a matter of months, COVID began amplifying society’s pre-existing immune response to the idea of mutual interest and shared sacrifice. The masks came off, the anti-vaccine arguments got louder, and a growing portion of society decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to help people they didn’t know avoid a virus they weren’t even sure was........

© National Observer