What To Do When Shot With An Arrow

     If you’re like me, you’ve been thinking about a Buddhist parable a lot lately. I’m not a practitioner of the Buddhist discipline, but I have an academic history with it including my participation in some of its holidays and rituals. This specific story is always lurking around the corners of my memory.

The original Buddhist teachings didn’t have much to do with metaphysics or the nature of the universe. When individuals would ask those types of questions, Gautama Buddha offered something like the following:

Imagine a man is shot with a poisoned arrow. The people he’s with try to help by controlling the bleeding and calling for a doctor but the man stops them. The wounded man insists that they must first figure out who shot the arrow, what their intention was, where the arrow came from, what kind of bow it was shot with, the type of bird the fletchings (arrow end feathers) were pulled from, what type of material the arrowhead was made with, and many other factors.  

The tale concludes claiming that the man will die before any of those question can be answered. So what’s more important: to figure out where the arrow came from or to remove the arrow? The point being that Buddhist teachings are about dealing practically with the moment at hand before any other concerns.

Now, I have degrees in philosophy and history. Dealing practically with the moment at hand is not something I’ve ever been good at. It would be hypocritical of me to say that knowing where situations and strife come from is not important. I find metaphysical origins to be some of the most vital and interesting information one can obtain.

There is a time and a place for it though. We are in the thick of it right now. When you are working with limited resources (time specifically) it’s important to be practical.

It is crucially important that we figure out where this particular arrow (COVID-19) came from so that we can prevent other arrows from finding us. That won’t matter if we die from the first arrow though.

Knowing the origin of a point of strife is comforting. It can lend a sense of control in an otherwise chaotic situation. Most of us have no control right now. We have to sit and wait while experts do what they do. We can’t let that quest for control distract us from the problem. We can’t let the arrow’s origins distract us from removing the arrow.

There has been a lot of coverage about where COVID-19 came from and specifically who is to blame. The White House in particular seems very focused on a largely debunked theory that it was started maliciously in a lab. While that might be the case (it’s almost certainly not), knowing that does not provide more protections for medical staff. Knowing the origins doesn’t deal with the skyrocketing unemployment. An origin story doesn’t address schools forced to go online, growing levels of domestic violence, or the blow being dealt to our precious economy.

Misleading origin stories and reinforced ignorance are why hate crimes against the Asian American community have shot through the roof.

The unfortunate truth is that there may not be a cohesive origin story behind this arrow. In all likelihood, it was poor marksmanship, carless safety protocols, and when people were shouting “an arrow’s coming” back in December, some specific people in power ignoring those warnings.

We will figure out as much as we can about where COVID-19 came from, but not right now. Now is the time to remove the arrow.