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Lockdown, social distance, wear a mask. Protest, open up, ditch the mask. As our divisions deepen, the death toll continues to rise. More than 100,000 Americans dead from COVID-19.

“How can we expect people to care about one another when we’ve built a society that’s like…you make it on your own or you fail on your own?” Excellent, insightful question posed by this week’s guest, Dr. Kari Nixon, a scholar of Medical Humanities and Assistant Professor at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. There’s a nice, long definition of what it means to be a Medical Humanist, but I love Kari’s simple definition: she studies human nature in crisis. And boy are we in a crisis.

We are in an epic struggle to balance our individual freedoms with our collective right to health. It’s an important topic we’ll be exploring in the next couple of episodes. What do you think is our greatest challenge as we come to grips with this societal dilemma? Dr. Nixon’s thought-provoking perspective is sure to spark conversation that might generate some heat, but that’s what Our Voices Matter is all about: giving each other permission to speak and having the courage to listen with an open mind.

And while you are doing that, keep in mind the photos of the blanket posted on this page. Kari is knitting it. It’s her way of honoring all the lives lost — and still to be lost — to COVID-19.

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