Do you sometimes wonder how many folks were taught by their loved ones to search for the silver lining in whatever bad happens to you? It’s not some crazy notion out of one of those “Fix Yourself” self-help books sitting on the drug store shelf.

Especially in these virus times, when anxiety is the order of the day, a deep dive for something good to say about all this might not be a bad idea. If you agree, read on. If not, go back to the “scare the heck out of everybody” coverage on cable news designed to drive up their ratings and who cares about the impact on viewers.

For example, many parents are re-introducing themselves to their kids and learning a sobering lesson that school teachers are the most valuable folks in our society. Parents have discovered teaching their kids is not easy. It’s even worse when the kids report, “Mom you’re not very good at math.”

In the political arena, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may be consciously or unconsciously working on her own silver lining as it relates to the quality of health care that persons of color in our nation are receiving. She notes that while African-Americans, for example, compose 14% of the population, they are contracting the virus at a 40% rate.

And she believes the pandemic has unmasked one contributing factor i.e. implicit bias among health care professionals. Implicit in the sense that it is not an outward expression of distain for others, but rather some part of our upbringing and a tacit taking for granted of how we view others.

The governor argues that implicit bias has resulted in some minorities receiving health care that may not be on the same level with other non-minority folks who walk in the waiting room.

Adopting her oft-mentioned mantra off “I’m here to solve problems,” she has offered her solution which did not exactly open to rave reviews by the two GOP legislative leaders.

The governor’s elixir is to make it mandatory for all health care workers–in order to keep and obtain a license–to take a course on how to dampen the impact of their possible attitudes with a silver lining goal of a long term improvement in health care for everyone.

“Implicit bias is not a statement of what’s in someone’s heart or someone’s head,” she reflects. “It is simply an additional piece of an education that will help them do their job even better.”

But House GOP Speaker Lee Chatfield reports he’s talked with some professionals who feel they were tagged with being racists.

Senate GOP leader Mike Shirkey reflected, “I was rather disappointed at how abrasive and how aggressive the comments were” from the governor and others. “Let’s not assume there is a bias for that. Let’s see the data before we start down that road,” he warns.

Taking up that reasoning, the speaker adds, “We need to have a conversation before we start issuing orders. Issuing edicts. To say that we need implicit bias training is in essence saying we have it in our system.”

As she has in the past, she disagrees with the two GOP leaders. “It was not a characterization of the incredible men and women who go into health care….It doesn’t mean there is intent. It doesn’t mean that everyone in health care has got an issue or a bad motive.”

But Mr. Shirkey feels, folks going into health care may not do it with all these mandates imposed by the state. “I categorically reject the notion that this is some key problem in this arena.”

Both Republicans do concede there may be some “disparity” in health care coverage between the races, but there may be other explanations. “Let’s be careful about reaching conclusions too quickly,” advises Sen. Shirkey.

Right now, the GOP can’t do squat to halt this mandate. It could take six months to a year for the administration to draft the guidelines for this course and then lawmakers will have a chance to review the course content and block it if they disagree.

Thus leading to this conclusion: The governor’s hoped for silver lining is not silver yet and if things don’t change from the two GOP guys, she may have to hunt for another one down the road.