(7-minute read)
When I went for groceries I waited until evening before going to the local store to pick up some drugs for my wife. I was hoping that there would be fewer people there in the later hours. I decided for the smaller local store rather than Walmart. This is a conservative area and people still aren’t taking social (physical) distancing too seriously. Since I was going there anyway I took a list so that I could pick up some other items as well. There were only a few other people there besides me. So, I masked and gloved up and went inside.
The family that shops together dies together.
There was a family there, husband, wife and a couple of children. No masks. No gloves. Just went out to get groceries.
“Come on, kids, let’s go see if we can all catch the COVID-19!”
I read an article “The Social-Distancing Culture War Has Begun” in The Atlantic by McKay Coppins about President Trump jesters laughing about triggering liberals by not following distancing guidelines. That article matches up with my own observations. I’m going to share a paragraph from the article since it has to do with golf. For those that might not know it, golf is considered essential in Missouri.
At the driving range, while Frost and his like-minded friends slathered on hand sanitizer and kept six feet apart, the white-haired Republicans seemed to delight in breaking the new rules. They made a show of shaking hands, and complained loudly about the “stupid hoax” being propagated by virus alarmists. When their tee times were up, they piled defiantly into golf carts, shoulder to shoulder, and sped off toward the first hole.
The article provides additional examples and I have read comments from Facebook friends about similar incidents. The above article is referencing an incident that took place at a country club. The club had requested and provided VOLUNTARY social distancing guidelines.
Parking Lot Convo
What does the above have to do with picking up groceries at the Harter House?
I was out of the store and putting my groceries in the car someone hollered, “Thank you for wearing a mask!” I looked around and there was a car with a lady sitting in it with her window partially down. She was the one that made the comment. We talked a bit. (I do that.) She said that she was two weeks behind on social distancing. Something had happened in her life that made her aware of what she needed to be doing not only to protect herself but others. Protect others. That’s a key element of the whole quarantine.
Protect others.
Voluntary hasn’t worked. It isn’t going to work. It’s too late to work. People have a hard enough time doing mandatory. You do voluntary and an entire families show up together to shop. People pack into the Walmart shoulder to shoulder. You do voluntary and people die. It’s a Constitutional right!
Whether we like it or not there is an entire subset of humans that have to be forced to do something at any given time up to and including national emergencies and matters of life and death.
There’s a killer on the road...
While President Trump did nothing but lie to the public while the killer on the road virus was quietly spreading across the country; carried to every nook and cranny.
The President didn’t really want isolation to work. The President et al have stated their position as to the relatively small number of people to the general population that will die. They have ensured that will happen even as they finally start acknowledging the body count. If we take the President’s comment for the truth (It wasn’t. It was a lie. Verifiably a lie) that he knew all along how bad it was then there’s absolutely no excuse for the actions that he didn’t take.
There’s no possible explanation for telling people that everything was under control if he really believed how serious the pandemic was.
The health care industry still doesn’t have adequate PPE or equipment. Testing is still inadequate. Testing still isn’t available to everyone. In some areas people have to wait as much as ten days for results. That’s enough time for them to already be dead from COVID-19.
Protect others.
In my morning search of the internet I ran into some information that’s noteworthy. The same day that Rear Admiral Timothy Zeimer left the White House a new outbreak of Ebola was announced. This was in 2018. Timothy Zeimer for those that might not know led the Pandemic response team that President Trump eliminated. (At the time Trump acknowledged that he did it but now denies knowing anything about it.) It was a reorganization and supposedly the duties were transferred to other existing departments. Based upon the response of the Trump Administration to the coronavirus the reorganization was NOT successful.
These comments made then “The threat of pandemic flu is the number one health security concern. Are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no." were made by Luciana Borio, director of medical and biodefense preparedness at the NSC, a different department. Prophetic.
Insulting the faith.
I do briefly want to address comments made by a pillow manufacturer who said that President Trump brought faith back into the country with his election. Evangelicals have supported the heresy that Trump is the “Chosen One.” These types of comments are insulting to the Christian faith.
The statements that the previous Administration and country were godless are also an insult to Christianity in general. The fact that 2 out of 10 Republicans still cling to their belief that President Obama is a Muslim and wasn’t born in this country is a testament to the power that ignorance (Satan) holds over the world. The Evangelical Party maintains that we had 9/11 and subsequent pandemics coming to us. (Incidentally the COVID-19 outbreak in the Kansas City area is attributed to people that were infected at a church conference.) They still believe that and are unshaken in these false beliefs. Theirs is a vindictive god of punishment that spares no one. These kinds of comments drive people away from Jesus.
Trump the Pharaoh.
So, if Republican jesters choose to believe in a biblical Trump then I believe that the fact that God sent a pandemic during his time better equates with him being a Pharaoh and we will see other plagues until he leaves. We’re also currently undergoing a plague of locusts in Africa for those that believe in a universal God.
Trump embodies the venality of the secular world and the worst of human characteristics. He really does want to be like Putin.
Failure or success
President Trump, along with his supporters, enablers and jesters has spent the last three and a half years actively dismantling government. (In general, the Republican Party has been doing so for the last 40 years, whenever they have the opportunity.) They have pursued crashing every system, department and foundation of our Republic. They have made Federal government fail from top to bottom. Their failure in dealing with this pandemic is their success story. This failure is a goal realized. This is one of the reasons that they are saying that they will be victorious. This is why a dilettante like Jared Kushner can be televised nationally saying that the stockpile paid for by American citizens belonged to them. Possession is ownership and what they have is life-saving.
A hundred thousand tears
I just read another comment from a Republican Trump supporter that the fact that most of us will survive is what should be promoted rather than fear. Their projecting a hundred thousand casualties is for them a victory. This is after all their success story. We should be glorifying their Ducé.
Their Pharaoh has been for months now patting himself on the back for doing such a great job and delivering everything that was needed to everybody. Everything is in control! We should be a grateful nation and…
…a hundred thousand tears or more is really
Just a drop in the bucket.