May 24, 2020
This is a post that was supposed to go live 2 days ago. It's been an intense struggle to make it happen and it's taken a bit of a turn. The struggle between trying to get people to open their minds and not pull any punches is real, it's difficult, especially with where we are as a country, in this speck of time within eternity.
Years ago I sat with Don Davis, the preacher at Western Hills Church of Christ at the time, discussing leadership and the feeling of community, love and support within that congregation. Though we talked for hours the thought I remember most is, "no matter the organization, when a group of people come together, that organization always reflects the character of the leader." Don was an excellent leader, with boundless love and understanding in his heart, smart, organized, intelligent and an excellent speaker who could convey a message like few people can.
In contrast, in America greed and deception have become the order of the day from the top down. The person, the office we have historically looked to for guidance is now occupied by the most disrespectful, dishonest, self-absorbed individual to ever sit as president of this great country. We have reached the sad point in our history when it's "us against them", when even a new and deadly virus is used as a political weapon, in misguided efforts to save the all-mighty economy, weak and old Americans be damned. We have reached a deplorable time in our history when the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick suggested that seniors would sacrifice themselves for the economy. Sorry Mr Patrick, there is no heroism in that statement, just self-serving political posturing.
I hope you can see how complicated this is, maybe you can, maybe you can't, Here it is.
As the country "reopens" people are wanting to travel, to get away and break the cabin fever. Legally that's okay, remember it's legally okay to ask older Americans to die for the economy, to fall on the golden sword so commerce can keep barreling down the highway. But is is right, is it in the spirit of American patriotism? Hell NO!! Not even in the abstract. How many Americans are willing to sacrifice their grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin or best friend to save the economy? Apparently more than you would think because that's exactly what is happening, right here, today, in the Good Old USA.
A war that we should be fighting together with a single plan of attack, has instead been used as a political tool to divide Americans into factions to be used as political tools while trying to secure reelections. We as Americans, have truly, in every sense, become pawns in the chess game that is American politics. And it is glaringly apparent that our lives are little more than bargaining chips to keep a system of commerce afloat, a system of commerce that is not built around average citizens, it's built to support the wealthy and in their eyes we as the worker bees of society are expendable.
The latest, and quite successful political ploy is to divide us on the subject of our own protection and the protection of our friends and families through the wearing or not wearing of face masks in public. An act that according to the CDC is one of the most important and effective ways of stopping the spread of Covid-19. Our President has chosen this, as another in a long line of defiant acts against advisors, to divide Americans against ourselves. And once again, despite his so-called "stable genius", he has chosen discord over common sense. He has done so in the name of the economy, but as usual bass-ackwards.
The simple truth is that if every American would simply put the health of the country above political faction the entire country could go back to work today, with some changes that will, in the long term have little affect on how we live, and here it is, once we get used to the changes. This is not the end of the world it's just a new normal, not necessarily bad, just new.
If we are going to put the all-mighty economy back in full swing then it should be done as cautiously as possible rather than amidst the chaos we're experiencing now.
My plea is this, As you start traveling around the country this summer do it as safely as possible. Travel and mingle safely for the family and friends of all those you come in contact with. Follow the CDC guidelines. Be especially careful when traveling. Above all stop whining and wear the cloth face covering, which should be our first line of defense against this invisible threat. Just keep in mind that the covering isn't just for your own protection it is for those around you, it's for the protection of their families, their friends, their co-workers, it's for the protection of their granny.
I'll keep working on the post this one was supposed to be, but in the meantime here's the message. Be careful as you start to travel around the country. Covid-19 spreads so easily and invisibly that you or the people you encounter along the way could be carriers and not even know it.
Please for the safety of our country and all its citizens be as cautious as humanly possible. No one is going to think ill of you for it, in fact we will all be very grateful to see that Americans are thinking about the health and well-being of Americans.
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