WARNING: Hard Work Ahead
July 23rd, 2020
Guest Blog
by Janice Fonger
Our country is at war.
Instead of fighting the virus, we are fighting one another. We are at war with a virus that doesn’t care about your race, religion, gender, age, socio-economic status, or political affiliation. While we don’t know everything about this virus, what we do know, what science tells us, can bring this horrible virus to its knees. Fighting this virus will not be easy, but if we don’t fight it together, COVID-19 WILL win.
America has survived for 244 years because we are fighters. When the going got tough, when America faced challenge upon challenge against our democracy, Americans pulled together to get the job done. The work was hard, but eventually, we prevailed. As a result, America has become the beacon of light for the world. Sadly now, our beacon is dimming.
I’m puzzled as to why this time is different. Why is it that this time, we choose to ignore the real villain in this story, COVID-19, and choose instead to fight against one another? Why are we willing to go to war against our neighbor over a “piece of cloth” on our face? Why is a mani/pedi, gym workout, lawn care, sporting events, and eating in restaurants, the hills we’re willing to die on (literally)? We’ve become “one nation” spoiled rotten, self-centered, and hate-filled. “We the people” has become “It’s All About Me and Mine.”
We claim to be pro-life, yet we are willing to knowingly spread this deadly virus to our neighbors, because “it’s my right”. You can’t be pro-life and at the same time reckless towards preserving another’s life. We are willing to sacrifice the lives of our elderly and those with serious medical conditions. And most appalling is that we are willing to sacrifice the lives of our children, by forcing schools to reopen without guidance, support, or additional resources. Maybe those who claim to be “pro-life” should volunteer in the public schools when they reopen.
We claim to revere our veterans and those who gave their lives for our freedoms. But what sacrifices are we willing to make to honor their sacrifices? My parents lived through WWII. My father was a soldier in the war. Back home families sacrificed by rationing, recycling, and rolling their sleeves up to volunteer for the war effort. “Americans were asked to make do with less of everything from gasoline to sugar to toothpaste” for the duration of the war. Yet today, we can’t go without manicures, massages, shopping, and movies for more than a few months. Sacrifice for the greater good is something we can’t be bothered with.
We claim that the virus is a hoax and a detriment to our economy. Yes, the economy has taken a hit and will take many years to recover. Yes, it is horrible that businesses are suffering because they can’t reopen to full capacity. Yes, some businesses have failed or will fail in the coming months. Yes, when businesses fail, workers can’t support themselves. When workers can’t support themselves and their families, evictions, hunger, illness, and despair arise. Yet, we’ve turned our backs on many of these “essential” workers by removing safety nets to help get them through the crisis. As we have seen too often during this crisis, businesses have put their employees at risk, and become COVID-19 breeding grounds by not appropriately mitigating the spread of the virus. These essential workers were sacrificed for the “bottom line”, so we could eat well and live our privileged lives during this pandemic.
But the greater detriment to our economy is the virus itself. COVID-19 running rampant in our country will destroy our economy. According to a recent analysis by Goldman Sachs, “there's one simple thing Americans can do that would boost U.S. GDP by a whopping five percentage points . . . a UNIVERSAL MASK MANDATE.” They claim this simple thing could make a “huge difference to the economy, American jobs, and overall prosperity.”
We claim to be patriots. We claim to love our country. Ok, here’s your chance to prove it.
We are in the throes of a public health crisis. Your individual rights while important, are going to have to take a back seat to the rights of the “public” as a whole if we are to conquer this. The public includes ALL of us. All means All. All Americans and those who make our way of life possible, deserve a chance to survive this pandemic. Yes, even the ones you don’t like, or agree with.
So please,
Wear Your Mask
Keep at least 6 feet between you and someone you don’t live with.
Wash your hands really really well.
Look out for your neighbors.
Pray if it helps you.
Rejoice in today and know if we do this right, hugs for all of you very very soon.
God bless America.
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