Why Being Woke Isn’t a Bad Thing

I’m still thinking about waiting for miracles to happen (my last essay), remembering how one can find those miracles on a daily basis by extending one’s vision to the good things surrounding us – the colors in the sky, plants growing, even our ability to do the littlest thing for ourself. And then I found myself banging my head about the crap going down all over and felt the frustration about the inequality of it all. How civilization hasn’t gotten very far to treating everybody as equals. It’s as if the slab in the movie 2001 was chiseled with “REMEMBER: ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL!” and we’re doomed to run into it head-on day after day.

Alas. The words (close to it) are found in our Declaration of Independence. Well it least for men – white men. And then that was “clarified” and extended to African Americans with the abolition of slavery by Amendments XIII and XIV.  And later still extended, hats off, to women with Amendment XIX. At least on paper. Wars have been fought and volumes have been written about all this. And the alas – it seems that this concept of equality has, at least for some and in some places, been branded as “woke,” woke being a bad thing.

It’s as if people should go back to sleep and wake up 75 years ago. Ride in the back of the bus, don’t even try to vote, or have a say over your own body. Some are saying enough with this equality shit. Be happy with what you have.

I’m not buying it. There’s a very Christian message saying “even as you do it to the least of them, you do it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). And the Old Testament reminds us that what is repugnant to you do not do unto others. Seems like a good start. Keep that in mind.

I’m going to change gears. Think about an ER, a battle field, or any place where there are multiple medical emergencies and limited resources. Think about Triage. Think about Triage and how you would want help extended to the anxious people waiting. And what would you expect if you were one of the “victims?”

I’m going to up the game. Paint yourself into this picture; let’s change the venue. Your plane makes an emergency landing in a foreign country. Your skin color is different from that of the local population. And the local custom has modified how the genders dress. There are some people killed in the crash, others with just a few bruises. But you’re flat out on the tarmac. How would you like the people doing triage – deciding who gets treated first and how they’re treated – did I say the facilities and medications are limited? What would you now consider equal treatment?

This country and many others are bleeding. Old wounds are festering. It seems to me that some of the powers that be are doing a poor job at triage, one that is far from equitable. Affirmative action was and still is necessary. Take a look at the battle field. When you’re given meds for an infection they often need to be taken for days after the sickness appears to have disappeared. When there’s a stabilized and equalized distribution of doctors, lawyers, teachers, poets etc. across all segments of our population along with wealth and resources then there’s hope that the patient is cured. Please add your own examples.

Here’s an added thought to go along with that. Medical insurance companies seem to be catching on that it’s cheaper to keep their customers healthy and I’m being motivated monetarily to exercise, eat well, and have physical checkups. They’re even paying me to have a medical practitioner come to my house for an hour-long call! Why? Cheaper than having me in hospital. Same is true for our society. There’s a cost when people are not given the opportunity to be well and not fulfill their potential. They earn less money – some one must make up the short fall. There are extensive social costs when people are help back. And guess what? The kid that doesn’t get to go to medical school could have been the doctor that would have saved your life in a medical emergency.

So think about triage and how you’d like to be treated. Hopefully it’s a wake up call that will move us closer to treating all people equally.

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Ken was a Professor of Mathematics, a ceramicist, a welder, and an IBMer until downsized in 2000. He taught yoga until COVID-19 decided otherwise. He continues writing, living with his wife and beagle in Shorewood, Wisconsin. He enjoys chamber music and mysteries. He’s a homebrewer and runs whitewater rivers. Ken is a writer and his literary works can be found at https://www.kmkbooks.com/

He welcomes feedback on his articles and can be reached at havokjournal@havokmedia.com.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.