What does vulnerability has to say about us and them?
What does the coronavirus has to say about
who faces vulnerability?

     I begin this essay defiining three words in the  subject: vulnerability, us and them. Vulnerability is the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. Us is the in-group that consists of those who have power and enjoy benefits not afforded the out-group. Them is the out-group that are often despised or abused by the in-group who benefits from the unequal statuses of these two groups. In the United States us equals white privilege and them equal the experience of racism.
      When the coronavirus, also called COVID-19, invaded the United States near the beginning of 2020, a few months after the virus attacked some countries in Asia and Europe, this invisible disease which is a mystery is also an equal opportunity disease that afflicts people in both the in-group and out-group. Moreover, both groups experiencing vulnerability face this invader defenseless and helpless.
     And while the them-group may experience more deaths percentage-wise than the us-group, for obvious reasons that largely have to do with proverty and racism, both groups have already experienced hundreds of thousands of deaths.
     Could it be that an important lesson the coronavirus is teaching humans is that all are subjected to the law of vulnerability, that nobody is subjected to invincibility. Perhaps we can now imagine what it feels like to live with vulnerability, this chronic condition, each and every day, that is experienced by the homeless, people subjected to police profiling and police brutality, people who live in commnities where there is not a grocery store and where the environment is not fit for habitation and a breakdown in the ecological offerings of nature because of man's misdoings.
     The coronavirus, a mystery disease, is not understood by humans despite the rhetoric about it that fills the media. However, if the conornavirus which is divinely ordered compels humans to recognize their vulnerability this plague may enable people to be aware that there is no going back to normal, but rather to welcome the birth of humanity being which will in due season manifest community being, the new normal.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love metcy
and to walk humbly with your God.
                      - Micah 6:8 NIV

Copyright 2020 by Uriah J. Fields