My Life is More ‘Disposable’ During This Pandemic
Written near the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the essay discusses how triaging care and minimizing the severity of COVID (e.g., saying, “only” chronically ill people and the elderly are likely to become severely ill or die) reflects the lack of value placed on the lives of the old and disabled. The author, Rabbi Elliott Kukla, is immune compromised and a child of parents who survived the Holocast. He reflects on how people’s unwillingness to give up travel or eating out to help stop the spread reflects a lack of care for those who are vulnerable.
Although written early in the pandemic, the essay picks up on themes raised by disability and other activists, questioning the “return to normal” following COVID. Could be used to prompt discussion of the difference in scale between public health arguments and statistical analysis and the value of individual life and perspective this narrative advocates for acknowledging.