There is an image going around on Facebook that I feel best describes the trend of this year. It is a row of porta potties at some event or another. Behind the portable bathrooms rages a fire. The caption read, "If 2020 were a scented candle." There is no denying that this has been a miserable year. There are record numbers of unemployed in the U.S. Around 230,000 of our citizens have died from the mishandling by our leadership of Covid19.
The closest thing to this pandemic was one hundred years ago. This time the disease was called Spanish Influenza. It devastated the world population. It is very personal to me. My great-grandmother went to Kansas to treat her son sickened with the disease. He recovered. She got the disease and died. There weren't enough clinicans to treat the desperately ill people. There weren't enough people to bury all of the dead. Everyone was afraid, with good reason.
What does one hundred year old history have to do with us in 2020? Those people endured a horrendous health challenge. The challenge did end eventually. The people who survived kept moving through life. We WILL see this pandemic go away. We may have to make small sacrifices along the way, like wearing a mask anytime you are around another human other than your immediate family. Like frequently washing your hands, and socially distancing. Perhaps you will have to limit social gathering to groups of ten. These are all very small sacrifices. If doing these simple things can save lives, and they CAN, why would we hesitate?
I am at serious risk of this infection. I spend most of my time inside my residence. When I do go outside, I faithfully wear a mask. This is not a challenge for me. Born with severe allergy asthma, and a puny immune system I have had to wear masks before in my life to protect me from the infections of others. I've also had to wear scarves or masks on my face when the weather was very cold. If I went from a cold outside to a warm inside, it was a guaranteed asthma attack. If I kept my breathing warm with a scarf or a mask that would often ward off an attack. This was before the advent of the wonderful modern medicines that currently are used to treat asthma.
It amazes me when I do go outside for a walk, that virtually nobody is wearing a mask? They are choosing to risk not only getting the infection, but sharing it with others in their sphere of living. They also seem blithely unaware that they might have an asymptomatic case and they may be spreading it to anyone around them.
I hear done woman explain, "I chose to live my life with faith not fear. If I get it, I get. That's just the way things work. I totally agreed with her assertion that life should be lived with faith not fear. The rest made my temper rise. Somehow she had missed that if SHE gets it, she will then be spreading it to others anywhere within range of her, before she even has any symptoms. I have faith...FAITH in the intelligence of the populace of the United States of America. I have faith that my neighbors and fellow men and women are selfless enough to think not just about their protection when wearing a mask, but about protecting others around them.
Partisan politics do NOT belong in a pandemic. I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, Independent, or whatever party you choose to align with. Wearing a mask is a sign of our respect for humanity. That is a condition that we all share...humanity. I don't know if anyone will read this. Somehow I feel better having voiced my opinion. .
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