COVID-19 Wisdom From Simon Bolivar, a Freemason

I feel like Bolivar knew COVID-19 was coming.

As a member of Potomac Lodge №5, the oldest Freemason body in the District of Columbia, I attend educational programs about famous Masons. These sessions provide a forum for learning about the principles of masonic life and the social responsibility associated with the fraternal organization.

I likewise taught other members about Simon Bolivar, a Freemason known as the ‘George Washington of the South’: He liberated six Latin American nations. Lately I’ve been thinking what Brother Bolivar, as fellow Freemasons would call him, would say about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brother Bolivar was known for his fiery quotes. It’s intriguing how relevant some of these quotes are to COVID-19 crisis. I’ve listed five of these quotes below, and provided commentary.

1) “An ignorant people is the blind instrument of its own destruction.” — Simone Bolivar

Brother Bolivar may have been chastising fellow Venezuelans for blindly accepting Spanish colonial rule. Taken into COVID-19 context, I’ve found numerous incidents of medical experts spreading falsehoods that the coronavirus is about as lethal as influenza. A piece in the Voice of OC, noted that, in fact, COVID-19 is much deadlier than influenza. Meanwhile, as the Des Moines Register reports, elected leaders are using COVID-19 for political gain and, even worse, to propagate conspiracy theories. These theories claim the virus is the result of a sinister plot between their political opponents and the Chinese. These politicians are doing a disservice to the people they are supposed to represent, and share responsibility for the spread of COVID-19.

2) “God grants victor to perseverance.” — Simone Bolivar

Brother Bolivar — a wealthy man who could have passed his days drinking wine and entertaining aristocrats — instead dedicated the balance of two decades persevering to liberate South America from Spain.

Some 200 years later, Seattle is Ground Zero for COVID-19. As I write this, at least 1,187 Washington State natives — 1 in 11 total U.S. cases — have been infected with COVID-19. To combat the coming pandemic, flu researchers in Seattle began testing study participants for COVID-19 in December 2019, according to KOMONEWS. By mid-March, the KOMONEWS article says, nearly 2,500 samples had been collected. While participants weren’t told they were subjects of the test in violation of state and federal research protocols, results only went back to participants — tipping them off on positive tests well before most Americans saw the coming pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to High Country News, other researchers in Seattle are attempting to create a vaccine that, if successful, would combat COVID-19 by introducing viral proteins to human cells and stimulating the immune system.

3) “The art of victory is learned in defeat.” — Simone Bolivar

Brother Bolivar won many battles, but he lost a few as well. Among the battles he lost was the Second Battle of la Puerta in 1814, which forced him into exile. During that exile, Brother Bolivar wrote one of his most famous documents, known today as the Letter from Jamaica. In the letter, Brother Bolivar called for the cooperation from Europe to liberate the Latin American peoples. (Haiti eventually heeded Brother Bolivar’s call; sending soldiers and material support.)

One only need look at the more than 81,000 confirmed infections in China (nothing to speak of the 3,100 deaths in the country’s Wuhan area) to see how the genesis of COVID-19 in the country brought defeat. While ABC News notes that Wuhan is beginning to recover from COVID-19, the jury is out on whether United States and other countries have learned from China’s mistakes. A now-deleted tweet from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, is not encouraging. As was widely reported, Stitt encouraged Oklahomans to dine out in large gatherings in defiance of guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which explicitly cautions against going to large gatherings.

4) “To do something right it must be done twice. The first time instructs the second.” — Simon Bolivar.

Brother Bolivar is likely referring to the first, botched 1806 Venezuelan revolution, which was over before it got off the ground. One lesson Brother Bolivar may have taken from the 1806 efforts was the need to identify and sow support for his revolutionary efforts.

While, as of the time of this writing, it’s hard to see that we are winning the War Against COVID-19, it is clear that efforts to ‘get it right’ the second time around are just getting started in the United States, Italy, France and other countries. As I noted above, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt’s tweet does not lend itself to combatting COVID-19, or instructing citizens on what their part should be to combat the virus.

5) “Out of the most secure things, the most secure is to doubt.” — Simone Bolivar

I suspect that Brother Bolivar was driving at the uncertainties involved in seeking to overthrow the colonial overlords. No matter how cruel the Spanish colonial government was, those subjected to it knew exactly how the system worked, and the consequences of defiance.

I’ve already talked about how conspiracy theories sow ignorance. Doubt — ignorance’s cousin — motivates people to do nothing when clear evidence shows they should act. An example of sowing doubt was seen when Jerry Falwell, president of Liberty University, refused to close down the Lynchburg, Va., school, despite the pleas of more than 3,000 students who signed a petition, according to ABC News. Falwell downplayed the threat, and accused people of overreacting, even as 4,400 people in the United States had contracted the disease, and schools shuttered their doors across the country. Falwell eventually relented — but he did too little, too late. (As I write this article the number has jumped to 11,274).

Brother Bolivar wasn’t a perfect man. Yet, he had many great personal qualities that would be an asset in a leader during the COVID-19 crisis. For example, he constantly sought to increase his knowledge, a key masonic trait. Meanwhile, during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020, it seems that our political leaders are tone-deaf to the idea that they can and should boost their knowledge, and their people will be safer because of it.

Click here to subscribe to my stories.