Where are the Wolverines?: We Need the Folks Who Understand the Pandemic
Just listening to the news makes one ill. Between the problems surrounding the Pandemic, Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida (plus other less well publicized tragedies and calamities including fires and illnesses and suicides), we are hard pressed to find pathways forward. Yes, we can shut off the news but we can’t shut off the reality of the news, whether we are listening to it or reading about it.
The Premonition by Michael Lewis
I had been reluctant to read Lewis’ book about the Pandemic. I figured (wrongly) that it was basically a book bashing Trump, and I was already “trumped out,” meaning I had repeatedly been engaged (for four years) in conversations damning the Trump regime and many of its key players.
But, my amazing DC book club adopted the book The Premonition at a meeting I didn’t attend and am I grateful for their perspicacity. In this amazing telling of the Pandemic story, Lewis identifies and shares a group of individuals who really did “get” the Pandemic, its causes and its remediation. Lewis details the voices of a group who called themselves the “Wolverines,” and while governments did include members of this group in conversations and emails, the messages just didn’t penetrate government bureaucracy and accompanying decision-making.
Don’t get me started on the absence of swaps for Covid testing and inability to enable free testing due to a “computer glitch” that could not register zero cost.
So, here are these amazing men and women — some in government and some in the private sector — who understand the Pandemic. The names Charity Dean, Carter Mecher and Joe DeRisi still ring in my ears.
Today
The Premonition story stops before the Delta variant took hold. And, we have been experienced a myriad of missteps and misinformation about the Delta variant and the vaccine booster/third shot (apparently there may be a different between them now and prospectively). We have children who are still unvaccinated due to an absence of safety data and a myriad of adults who refuse vaccinations for a myriad of reasons including some that seem totally unjustified. The common good has, it seems, been lost in the proverbial shuffle of defending freedom of choice.
And, we can anticipate new variants of Covid in the future. And, we are learning about the long haul affects of Covid, something that has become increasingly clear as those affected fail to recover fully over an extended period. And, with Hurricane Ida, medical facilities in Louisiana are stressed to the limit and other regions are experiencing ICU bed shortages due to Covid. Medical staffs are weary and the expected light at the end of the tunnel is far off.
And, even for the vaccinated, the breakthrough infections are scary and real.
Add to all this the vituperative debates on a myriad of Covid related issues: Masks or no masks; Schools/colleges open or closed or hybrid or online; Teachers dying or leaving the field of education or taking early retirement; Workplaces delaying reopening or enabling work from home; Vaccine mandates being issued by employers/governments or workers suffer the consequences (as in “be fired”); and the list continues.
Courts are chiming in. So are politicians. So are religious leaders. So are pundits.
Where Are the Wolverines?
I just don’t get it — unless the Wolverines are being heard and it is not in the news. I have not read anything about the views of Charity Dean or Carter Mecher or Joe DeRisi among others on the current issues we face with the Pandemic. Where are they? Why aren’t they speaking or if they are speaking, why aren’t we listening?
I searched online. Yes, there are book reviews mentioning the Wolverines, including some recent ones. And, there are some interviews, many dating back a couple months. I didn’t see a tweet or LinkedIn post or article within the last month — just as Delta has taken its vicious hold.
Here’s the point: there are folks who can enrich our understanding of what is occurring now with the Pandemic and the Delta (and other) variants and the third shot/booster. Why aren’t we tapping into their knowledge, their insights, their wisdom?
Some Thoughts on the Whys
Michael Lewis offers up a set of reasons for why we didn’t listen to the Wolverines. None are good. Generally speaking, governments aren’t good at listening to outsiders. People in power don’t like sharing information or power for that matter. The Peter Principle continues. Our leaders aren’t used to thinking outside the box and taking risks or identifying novel solutions. Our leaders don’t trust “level 6” workers; somehow, they think those who are below high leadership levels are dense or lacking in value or missing the boat. Government and its leaders aren’t able to work across disciplines and sectors and constituencies.
One way or another, we discard the views of many who could improve our world.
Sadly, I think we are sorely mistaken when it comes to who holds wisdom and who can provide solutions and insights. Let me cite a couple examples from my own work experiences in and outside government.
I had been struck by our efforts to improve the lives of students without actually asking students what they want and need. Somehow, we assume because we were students (many moons ago for some of us) and live in academic communities that we get what students are thinking. And, why exactly don’t we ask them? They actually can provide unique insights and perspectives.
One possibility for our reluctance: we don’t want to deal with their answers — which might challenge what we are doing and thinking.
There are many times in my earlier life as an educator when I would have benefited from student input but somehow, I wasn’t open to it. Parental input too. And, while I was more accepting of the views of older students, I sort of wrote off the views of youngsters as if youth meant they couldn’t possibility offer up solutions. In short, I (and others) made decisions for students not with students. How wrong was that? Answer: Very.
Change came to me (and is still a process that is ongoing) when I was older and less threatened by others challenging my views and became vastly more willing to acknowledge the limitations of our knowledge and insights. In short, I got wiser and in the process realized how many gaps there were in my understanding of students, among many other issues. And, inspired in part by James Ryan’s spectacular book, Wait What, I began asking for questions and importantly, listening to the answers.
In my work on reopening schools during the time of Covid and in my work on trauma that many have experienced now and in the past, I have seen the remarkable power of allowing others to vent and to share their experiences and their own solutions to the many problems in our world. Take trauma anniversaries; we have oft-times created commemorations but without enough input by the many constituencies affected by disasters and other adverse events. We need to ask. We need to be open to answers other than our own. We need to hear music we aren’t making.
Consider this example. Suppose the government (local or state) wants to deliver food to those who are hungry and there are far too many people experiencing food scarcity across the US (and the globe). How does government do that? Do we give those in need money/debit cards to buy food of their choosing? Do we limit what they can buy with the money/debit cards we give them? Do we deliver food to them in their homes (assuming they have homes)? Do we create a “store” where they can come and get food? Do we dictate what they get and how much? Do we provide or cold meals and deliver them to those in the street? Do we coordinate with non-profit food pantries that serve these groups in need? Do we enable schools and churches to engage with government in a suitable strategies? Do we work with restaurants and farms to deal with unused and unspoiled food?
Yes, we come up with some answers to these questions but often, we don’t ask the recipients what they want and need. Likely, the answers vary based on the individuals’ age, needs, life experience. And then we wonder why folks don’t show up at locations we establish for them or partake of benefits we offer. How much largess just sits unused because the intended recipients don’t receive it? Far too often, we don’t determine what would suit the needs of those who are hungry. Yes, we think we are preserving their dignity but we do it far too often without asking for the input from those to whom we want to disburse benefits.
Our Reluctance to Ask for Help
There is another aspect to all this: I think many people in power are reluctant to ask for help. People see asking for help — particularly from others not in power — as a sign of weakness when it is actually a sign of enormous strength. Recognizing the need for help — like from the Wolverines — doesn’t mean we aren’t smart. What makes us smarter is listening to voices that haven’t always been in our ears.
For those who want to read more on this, look at Charlie Mackesy’s amazing illustrated book (suitable for adults and children alike) titled The Boy, the Mole, The Fox and the Horse. Read it several times. Consider this question and answer between the boy and the horse (which in some ways are parts of ourselves speaking to each other): “What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said?” asked the boy. “Help,” said the horse.
There is another feature of asking for help, namely the issue of whom we ask for needed help. If we ask only those we know well and know their answers and feel no risk, we may not get as much help as we need. Perhaps we need to expand the audience from whom we ask for help.
On this latter topic, I am unfortunately, not very advanced. I tend to ask those I trust, those I know, those before whom I am not scared to show weakness — even though I know intellectually that asking for help is not a weakness. I would do better and get more help if I expanded the realm of those from whom I can accept help. That observation is applicable to governments and leaders. We tend not to ask the widest audiences possible. Our loss for sure.
A School for Unlearning
I think, at least in some situations, we need to unlearn what we have learned in the past and be open to learning new ways of doing things and solving problems and engaging with out-of-the-box approaches. (Mackesy’s book makes this observation too.)
Sometimes, when I offer up unique solutions, I feel as if I am going unheard. My platform isn’t high enough to reach the decision-makers. My gender doesn’t help either; women (and girls) often are not heard despite speaking. How many meetings have I been to where I raise an issue which is then ignored but 10 minutes later, a man makes the same point and is lauded for his insights?
Back to the Wolverines: We need to open our minds to listening to and asking for help from the Wolverines, individuals who understand the Pandemic and vaccines and solutions.
And, while that would be a critical start, we might as well also listen to others on a wide range of issues of which the Pandemic is but one.
Asking questions, listening to others, recognizing the need for and then asking for help: we’d be wise to do all three. Now.
