Some Men Never Go — Bob Segar in the era of Coronavirus

I was graced with a blast from my rock-music-listening past the other day — Bob Segar’s “Shame on the Moon.”  I enjoyed plenty of his songs more than that one, I should say.  And (James 5:16 time) I very much preferred several of his songs that were entirely inappropriate in terms of content.  But a few lines from the second verse of this particular song rang true in the current climate of contagion and reaction:

Some men go crazy

Some men go slow

Some men go just where they want

Some men never go.

I know the song originally had reference to the stress that comes with actually opening oneself up emotionally to a woman.  (Discuss among yourselves which of these four categories best fits your husband or significant other, ladies.)  But doesn’t it sound today like it was written specifically to fit our dealings with the coronavirus?

Some of us go crazy.  The sky is falling.  The Chinese planned the whole thing.  There is no such thing as an overreaction; there are only people who clearly hate their fellow human beings.

Some of us go slow.  Jumping to conclusions only makes a bad situation worse.  Consider all the facts.  Let the experts do their job.  Trust that there will be toilet paper next week.

Some of us go just where we want.  The chaos is an annoyance.  We resent being robbed of March Madness and the corner table at their favorite restaurant, and we will respond by doing exactly what we want to do.  Ignore the public shaming.  Ignore the government.  If you’re not sick, don’t act like you are.  Cough all over the fresh produce just to annoy everyone else.

Some of us never go.  We quit on life.  We don’t go to church services (even online).  We don’t go to work (but we invent new ways to play).  We don’t go visit the sick (although they probably need our support more now than ever).  Most importantly, and most fundamentally, we don’t go to God.  Maybe we blame Him for the current situation.  More likely, though, we just show how irrelevant He really is to us.  We have an unprecedented abundance of free time, and we share virtually none of it with Him.

Myself, I am more or less settled into the “slow” category.  It’s my nature anyway.  And in this situation it helps me keep the world in perspective.  It especially helps me avoid the panic, selfishness and abject failures of faith I see in so many others — including many of my brethren.

The sky is not falling.  God holds up the sky.

There are more important things than your personal agenda.  It’s always been true (Philippians 2:3-4); coronavirus hasn’t changed that.

We must go — to our neighbors and especially to God.  God provides fellowship with Himself and with our brethren (1 John 1:1-3). It is a time to reinforce those ties, not to abandon them.