Between Scylla and Charybdis

"Scylla and Charybdis are two famous monsters from Greek mythology, who worked in tandem on the opposite sides of a narrow strait of water. This strait was navigated by Odysseus in The Odyssey. ... The combination of Scylla and Charybdis gave rise to an old saying of 'between Scylla and Charybdis,' a saying which evolved into the more popular idiom, 'between a rock and a hard place,' both sayings equating to dangers which ever direction was faced."   greeklegendsandmyths.com/scylla-and-charybdis.html


The masked healthcare workers in green scrubs standing in the crosswalk during Sunday's Denver protest faced down a crowd of screaming hundreds unarmed, speechless and motionless. The photo above has gone viral and the healthcare workers, who did not want to be named, loom even larger in my mind as heroic figures. The photo is hard to look at; it embodies the tensions rising in our country even as we face a historic test, a test which requires unity.  We are not all in the same boat - some people without jobs, without money for groceries, feel like they are in a sinking raft, while others of us can still pay rent or mortgage and afford to feed our children - but our communal health depends on unified action. Like those demanding the right to work and to possibly get sick, we are all between two monsters, bruised on both sides, facing danger in all directions.

For me, the power of the photograph rests with the healthcare workers who have put their lives on the line. They do not have enough supplies, medicine or PPE to guarantee their own wellness, and when they took positions in the crosswalks on Sunday did so only during the red lights, unwilling to risk anyone's health as they bore mute witness to the suffering we can't see in the nation's hospitals. They listened to taunts and threats even as their presence promised the protesters, "We will be here to treat you, even as you get sick from joining this crowd, from ignoring the social distancing orders."

The picture rouses so much emotion that I am left without argument, only questions. I wonder what we will think when we look back at this picture in six months or a year?  Will this photo be in our grandchildren's history books? What will the caption say?

Our country is poised between Scylla and Charybdis. Pray that we move forward carefully, navigating dangers on all sides. We may not all be on the same boat but our flotilla is connected, and we need to get everyone safe across.

Stay safe and well.
xoxo
Laura