R-E-S-P-E-C-T for a Nurse Who Spoke Volumes Without a Single Word

Last week, I read about nurse Lauren Leander, age 27, who -- on her scheduled day off from the intensive care unit at a hospital where she takes care of patients who contracted the Coronavirus -- stood in absolute silence in counter-protest at the Arizona Capitol while people protested the ongoing closure of schools and businesses across the state. She stood for hours completely silent, her facial expressions partly hidden behind her medical mask, her body rigid in surgical scrubs.

Nurse Leander said she heard a stream of insults from rally goers. People accused her of being an actor or, if a real "nurse," one who performed dentistry or abortions. She did not engage with the people walking by -- people who were not exercising social distancing or wearing masks. She was surprised at the anger directed at her. She isn’t a politician. Her job is to take care of people. During a phone interview with The Arizona Republic newspaper, she said: "Whether you believe in the virus or not, we're the people who are going to take care of you one way or the other. It was disheartening to have those kinds of comments thrown in my face." 

Personally, I have great respect for nurse Leander and the few other nurses that decided to join her by standing silent and enduring all of the negative, hurtful, and sometimes hateful comments. She said standing silently in scrubs and a mask "was absolutely just an invitation for people to throw whatever accusation or comments they had at us. For the first probably hour, I definitely had a burning desire to say something. I wanted to say so many things to every insult I heard. But that was not why I was there. That was not the statement I was trying to make. I feel fortunate I was able to say so much without saying anything at all.”

This is not a political blog, and I'm not going to begin to write about government decisions surrounding the Coronavirus and the current state of the U.S. economy. However, I must say that I am impressed with how nurse Leander and the colleagues who joined her that day handled themselves. Well done, nurse Leander. Well done!

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

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• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past