{"id":8132,"date":"2020-03-15T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=8132"},"modified":"2020-03-14T14:58:58","modified_gmt":"2020-03-14T21:58:58","slug":"the-paradox-of-doing-by-not-doing-when-the-enemy-is-a-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/life\/the-paradox-of-doing-by-not-doing-when-the-enemy-is-a-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paradox of Doing by Not Doing When the Enemy Is a Virus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the United States declared war on Japan (December 8, 1941) and then on Germany (December 11, 1941), there was a lot to do, and people did it. They enlisted and shipped off to fight overseas. They bought war bonds. Women who had never worked outside the home went to work in factories. It was a whirlwind of activity. People were proud to serve their country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today if you go into any bookstore, you’ll find shelf after shelf filled with books covering every aspect of WWII. The generation that fought in that war and kept the home fires burning has been called “The Greatest Generation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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my dad in basic training<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, you won’t find many books on an earlier national and international crisis, the 1918 flu pandemic (also called the Great Flu and the Spanish Flu). Maybe it just wasn’t as dramatic as the war. Or maybe people didn’t step up and work together, so there wasn’t as much to be proud of. Even though about 675,000 Americans died during the Great Flu (compared with 53,000 in battle in WWI), when the flu pandemic was over, people simply didn’t want to talk about it. (See this article in the New York Times by David Brooks<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s understandable, I suppose. Disease feels like such a personal, quiet thing. It’s a national emergency, but there are no rah-rah-rahs. No parades or rallies. And yet, we’re all in this one together, maybe even more so than during a war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this crisis, we’re not asked to jump into action. On the contrary, the advice we’re given sounds like negative action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t shake hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t go out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t go to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t go to sports or cultural events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t take that trip or have that wedding or party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t touch your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one positive message: Wash you hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t sound very heroic, does it? That’s the paradox of fighting this virus: The best way to beat it and serve our families, neighbors, and country is, in many cases, NOT to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s one more small positive thing we can do: Call, Skype, and text family and friends who are stuck at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the United States declared war on Japan (December 8, 1941) and then on Germany (December 11, 1941), there was a lot to do, and people did it. They enlisted and shipped off to fight overseas. They bought war bonds. Women who had never worked outside the home went to work in factories. It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1997,1040,1837],"tags":[1994,1995,1992,1996,1986,202],"class_list":["post-8132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disease","category-life","category-world-war-ii","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-paradox","tag-spanish-flu","tag-the-great-flu-pandemic","tag-wwii"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-27a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7455,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wwii-in-china\/december-7-1941-attack-and-a-declaration-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":8132,"position":0},"title":"December 7, 1941, Attack and a Declaration of War","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Seventy-seven years ago today the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A day later the United States declared war on Japan. By then, my future husband and his family in China were already in the middle of a Japanese invasion and occupation. 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President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it, \"A date which will live in infamy.\" The following day, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, it declared war on Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. In an earlier post,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pearl Harbor, photo courtesy of lefatima ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2974,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/pearl-harbor-wasnt-the-only-taget-on-dec-7-1941\/","url_meta":{"origin":8132,"position":2},"title":"Pearl Harbor Wasn’t the Only Target on Dec. 7, 1941","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 For most of my life, I thought the only country the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941, was my own, the United States of America. In my defense, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was an enormous event for the United States. Within the short period of ninety minutes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pearl Harbor, photo courtesy of lefatima ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/3610994085_1a6dc87a6e_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":401,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/war\/december-7-1941\/","url_meta":{"origin":8132,"position":3},"title":"December 7, 1941","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"December 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Pearl Harbor Wasn\u2019t the Only Target If you\u2019re a history buff, you probably know how expansive the Imperial Japanese Navy war plans were for December 7, 1941. 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I must have seen and forgotten hundreds of movies since 1987 when it was released. But Empire of the Sun is not the kind of movie one easily forgets. The splendor of the visuals seared itself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"flickr, m4tik","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/movie-theater-flickr-m4tik.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8132"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8136,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}