Reply To: Thoughts by Mark Lawrence Schrad. What takeaway do you see for DNP colleagues?

[Ricky Bonar]

A battle against the catastrophe brought forth by the pandemic is one way of looking at this. I do admit, especially during the first wave of the pandemic, a certain level of enthusiasm mixed with feelings of pride and awesomeness welled up inside me. Many a nurses have also taken the liberty to indulge in an opportunity to engage in heroism that is further magnified by the devastation left behind by the pandemic; it has been an unprecedented time in history. Sadly, when one steps back and observes only to discover the profound polarization of this new kind of patriotism. On one hand you have the perception of heroism through solidarity with science and compliance of a civilized social system, on the other hand there is also a similar perception of heroism and righteousness through acts of courage to preserve individualism and personal freedom. Strangely, what I thought is something empirical in nature; something which requires an empirical solution as in hard science has catalyzed the rupture of deep seated principles which seem poetic if not philosophical in nature.