PANDEMIC GOOD NEWS!!
No, I’m not going to talk about the eased mask restrictions or the sharp decline in COVID-19 cases or the remarkable number of vaccinated U.S. citizens. You’ve heard all that good news already.
No doubt you’ve had your fill of bad news, too. We lost over 600,000 people to the pandemic; overall deaths in our country increased 17% last year over the previous year, largely because of COVID; and there are quite a few coronavirus survivors with long-term health issues. All this plus there are many people still without jobs and we continue struggling with the Divided States of America.
But there’s really good news you may not have heard. During 2020, our country experienced a 6% decrease in the number of suicides – the sharpest annual drop in four decades!
This statistic is surprising, since Americans have reported increased depression, anxiety and substance use during the pandemic. Experts say a major reason for the downward trend in suicides is that people tend to be more open about their feelings and are more inclined to rally around each other during times of crisis, such as a pandemic or war. Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention said, “It’s hard to determine exactly why suicide deaths decrease during times of crisis, but we have seen this in other statistics like the 1918 Spanish Flu.”
I would express it as an overall increase in kindness and compassion. The whole world really is getting better and kinder. After all, we don’t spend Saturday afternoons watching the lions eat the Christians, or enjoy snacking at public hangings in the town square.
I’m one recipient of the virtues of kindness and compassion. My family has always been kind to me and each other; however, their caring has been particularly pronounced since the pandemic began. Neighbors have called often to see if I was okay and if I needed anything; good friends frequently brought me homemade juice and cooked meals. I hardly ever went to the supermarket because someone always volunteered, including my grandsons in Taos. And this is a minor instance of kindness but one I appreciated: a couple months ago I was in line outside at Copy Queen and when it was his turn, the masked man standing six feet in front of me said, “I’d open the door for you, but… you know, social distancing.”
Northern New Mexico is teeming with kindness and compassion. A common risk factor for suicide among youths is drug and alcohol abuse. Luckily, we have organizations that work with young people to help prevent substance abuse, like Questa’s Vida del Norte Coalition and Taos Alive.
Yes, charitable behaviors and tenderness are markedly increased during this pandemic. That’s because kindness and compassion are also contagious and they’re spread by many little instances of these virtues on an individual level. I’m going to make a commitment to watch for and act on any opportunity to be kind to someone. Will you join me?
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