I don’t feel like a hero. And I am probably not one. In this eerie time of lockdown during a pandemic, we describe healthcare workers on the frontlines as heroes. Many, as they should, extend this designation to other essential workers, such as farmworkers, employees at supermarkets, bus drivers, paramedics, meatpackers, custodians, warehouse clerks, and others. It takes all kinds of people doing their jobs day in and day out for society to function, and for the most part they go unacknowledged, especially during typical circumstances.
For those of us who are physicians, we read about the sacrifices being made by our colleagues in COVID-19 hotspots. Emergency room and ICU physicians, even residents, succumbing to a virus they have vowed to fight. Beloved nurses who cannot even have a proper burial due to fear of viral spread. As a pediatrician in central Ohio, most of my colleagues and I have been spared from the brunt of the gore. This is a relief to me and to my family.
But I cannot help but feel weighed down by guilt. Why is it them and not me? Why am I allowed to continue my pediatric training when other pediatricians are being called to care for sick adults, putting themselves at risk? Why have I not been given the opportunity to serve? Or have I been spared of the burden?
This is a topic that Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum discusses heartbreakingly and beautifully in her Perspective, “Once Upon a Time…the Hero Sheltered in Place,” in the New England Journal of Medicine1. In it she makes the case that it is not only essential workers and physicians on the frontlines who are heroes, but all of us, doing our part, to take care of ourselves and others. I implore you to read her perspective and then consider your own.
The prompt for this week is this:
“Write about heroes.”
You have as much or as little time as you would like to take. See you next week.
References:
- Rosenbaum L. Once Upon a Time…the Hero Sheltered in Place. NEJM. 6 May 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2015556.
More unedited writing of mine. All about heroes.
What is a hero? In the current zeitgeist, the word brings to mind superheroes: Captain America (my personal favorite) sprinting across Germany and punching Nazis to bring down the Third Reich, Wonder Woman fighting the God of War to end World War I, Black Panther struggling to save his country from a military coup led by a warmonger. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines a hero as “a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great.” This seems very innocuous as a definition and fits nicely into the narrative we have constructed about heroes in society.
The 7 pm applause, the social media celebrations of #NursesWeek, the infographics thanking essential workers all paint a picture celebrating heroes. But I find two things troubling about our treatment of our so-called heroes in this society.
The first problem is how we define “brave” and “great.” Definitely going to work every day with the risk of contracting a highly contagious virus is brave. But it is also brave to stay home and put your life on hold for the greater good. The worst part about our narrow definition of brave is that we then admonish those who, while they are doing their best, stop meeting our expectations. When a respiratory therapist silently continues treating patients despite unsafe working conditions, they are a hero. But when they want to protect themselves, complaining about the lack of protective equipment, the lack of sick leave, lack of child care, they no longer fit our narrow definition of heroism and face a fall from grace in the public eye. I would argue, though, that fighting the status quo for a better life for all of us is one of the bravest things that one can do.
The other concern, one that requires us to push changes in policy to remedy, is how we show our admiration. Social media announcements and free food delivered to frontline workers is appreciated (or so I have read). But hospitals, grocery store clerks, subway workers, all of whom are exposed to multiple people on a daily basis are in many cases not provided with the protective equipment they need. Nor do they receive fair compensation or adequate sick leave. It makes the rest of the admiration ring hollow and the use of the term “hero” misleading.
But it is easy to do this when we don’t think of ourselves as heroes. They are otherworldly, they are super, “I could never do that.” The problem with that thinking is that we don’t realize that they are human beings with needs. We also don’t empower ourselves to contribute the way that we can and we should. You don’t need to be unusually talented to make a difference. As Dr. Chuck Dietzen, a pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Riley Hospital for Children and founder of Timmy Global Health, says, the goal for each of us should be to “be ordinary…but have an extraordinary mission.” We can all make the world a more extraordinary place.
Writing for Wellness 