From today’s Washington Post, by a writer based in Charlotte, following the news that several SIM missionaries are returning to Charlotte and will be quarantined there.
“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” or so says the lesson in the Gospel of John in the New Testament. It is a simple message that is now being tested by several modern-day crises, with complications that range from compassion overload to an instinct to protect loved ones close to home.
Charlotte, where I live, waits with support, careful interest and some apprehension after news that missionaries, some of whom have worked with and around patients with the Ebola virus, will be returning to the city. […]
There has been backlash to the loud voices of criticism ”“ that would be Donald Trump protesting the U.S. treatment of the sick, and Ann Coulter, questioning missionaries working in “disease-ridden cesspools” of Africa. But others are more calmly uncomfortable. Retired neurosurgeon and conservative activist Ben Carson said doctors should have flown overseas to treat Ebola patients there.
Admonitions to be our brother’s keeper are tempered with concern over things that are easy to fear and difficult to understand. It’s what happens when the generosity many Americans take pride in is complicated by practical concerns and worries. You can hear it in the low tones of good people who nonetheless have doubts.
You can hear it as Americans debate the fate of children fleeing violence in Central America. Many want to help and would never stand in the road angrily jeering busloads of women and children, but they also want to know laws are being followed. While the plight of resilient Yazidis escaping with the aid of American airstrikes is a survival story to cheer, for many that support would stop at the point it meant American soldiers on the ground.
In Charlotte, a city welcoming those returning from a mission of mercy, well-wishers also wonder about the limits of compassion. There is caution underlying the support in an overwhelming world that can seem full of danger and unfilled need. But were the Writebols and Brantly on to something? Would the fight against Ebola be further along if the international community had paid more attention when the victims were limited to countries many know little about?
Consider this …
Four direct flights from Ebola striken countries:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/08/08/air-ebola-four-direct-flights-into-the-usa-from-african-hotspots/
Transit has existed for the entire outbreak, well before the notoriety of the missionary cases.
Right, #1. These missionaries, who were brought back in quarantine and will be in quarantine until cleared, are a substantially smaller risk than all the people coming in on regular commercial flights who think they feel fine.