I remember the summer of 1944, when my one-room school teacher cried all day because her husband was landing at Normandy. Many items were rationed including meat, sugar, gasoline and many more. We lived in a farming region so it was easy to get eggs, milk and poultry but still hard to get some of the things that make life easier. WWII was raging, and we were taking part by going without. The next country-wide problem was the polio epidemic. My uncle died from the disease, but there was no quarantine. Finally, a vaccine was developed, and we were safe from the terrible disease. The Korean War then the Vietnam War were when we saw the first anti-government demonstrations. Some of the news outlets were against the war, and one even staged battle scenes as real live events. Later they had to admit the faux battles but never apologized for the misleading news reports. This was the first time that I became aware that news outlets were biased and not entirely believable. The protests were valid since our government was drafting young men and sending them into a battle that was not being fought to be won and for a foreign government, without any need to protect ourselves from an enemy.
There have been quite a few viruses that have caused disease and death to Americans, some of which have been dealt with seriously, but never has a virus caused a national quarantine. The 1918 flu epidemic that took so many lives including my father’s sister or the aunt that I never knew may have been lessened by a quarantine but that did not happen. We have arrived at a place that we have never seen before in our country, and it is taking a toll on many especially those who have lost their jobs. The haves and have nots have become separated a little more than ever, and it is not the poor or nonworkers that have been put aside but the hard-working populace that earns its keep. Told not to work and given a few dollars to help out, which in most cases will not cover the rent or mortgage, there is no where to go but the food bank. How humiliating after being able to take care of yourself before.
My wife and I are both retired with incomes that have not stopped. We are fortunate, but still our usual daily activities have been curtailed. We have gotten to know each other better and have never spent so much time together. We decided to use this time to diet and take off a few pounds instead of the usual gain when activity is stopped. Walking has continued, and I have been able to play golf a few times, which has helped with the boredom. Trips to the grocery store and Walmart have added some exercise and a chance to get out with our masks covering our faces. It is still confining not to be able to visit the coffee club in the morning and see friends. Most conversations have been telephone calls. The TV has been constant Covid-19 news with much of it political and not very factual. Until now, during my lifetime, I have never seen a national crisis during which everyone has not pulled together to get over it with politics being put aside. It seems that some politicians and news outlets have been doing just the opposite and are using the misery of the people affected with the disease or being out of work to gain political power or demean the president. Never before have I seen a time when the so-called independent news outlets have taken such a stand of hatred of the president during a crisis. Their attacks tell us that solving this crisis is minor next to the harm they can push toward the president. It is sad to see, and surely evil has been injected into the American way of life. As politicians and newspeople discard their reason for being in order to try to force everyone to think their way at the expense of the American citizen, we fall deeper into the loss of individualism.
Hopefully the next election will send Pelosi back to eat all of her ice cream, and we will elect people who listen to their subjects. We need to reevaluate the happenings of this year, and instead of placing blame try to find what we did that was correct and build on that to meet the next crisis.
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