Who among us hasn’t looked at a picture of the 18-year-olds in a landing craft headed for the terrible WWII battle that was D-Day and wondered, would I have been that brave? America was attacked, there were people dying on American soil, and those generations of Americans living in that time said: “Bring It!”
And we won because they were Americans.
We have a new enemy today, attacking and killing Americans on our soil, and although the threat may not be as existential as the one faced in WWII, the threat of hundreds of thousands dying here is real. And there is a healthy fear of knowing that something that you can’t see, smell, or touch is out there waiting to sicken, and potentially kill you. Tough, scary, times have been thrust upon us, and it is gut-check time for us my fellow Americans.
I have attached a link to an article that tackles defining the nature of the threat we face and I think this is a very important read.
To be blunt, the genie is out of the bottle and it is a new reality we face in the world. All of us cannot simply wait this out hoping that an effective vaccine is created in the near future.
The good news is, if you are young and healthy, less than 60 with no underlying medical conditions, this virus may be less dangerous to you than the common flu. It is very dangerous to the elderly with one or more underlying medical conditions. Let’s use that knowledge to temper the response and chart a path forward.
If we continue with a near-total shutdown, the whole economy will collapse and that creates a much larger set of problems that will affect everyone, not just at-risk populations. Can you imagine the levels of business failures, unemployment, depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, drug ODs, homelessness, domestic violence….? All will happen if we allow fear to wreck the economy and crush our children’s futures.
The only realistic path forward is for the young and healthy to keep us going with a selective quarantine of the high-risk groups (primarily 70+ with one or more serious underlying health conditions).
President Trump has a very tough decision to make in the near future; when to open up the economy. Personally, I think that decision-point will be triggered by the demonstration that the Hydroxychloroquine/z-pac/zinc treatment works.
He will be second-guessed, and his enemies will gleefully lay at his feet, everyone who dies after that decision is made. But he is not a politician and I don’t think he will cave to the terror of unpopularity that politicians dread.
Will people have the wisdom to understand that there are no decisions Trump can make that won’t result in deaths? Will they see that this is the necessary one? Americans, will you support and encourage that tough call?
To younger Americans, if you are called upon to return to your jobs will you? That will be your part in our fight to survive as a Nation while be beat this virus.
To the Greatest Generation still among us and to Boomers like me with an underlying health condition, will you say to your children and grandchildren: “we’ll take our chances, go out and save America”?
I think we will. Because we’re Americans. The next in a line of great generations.
Wuhan flu?
Ha!
Bring it!
