My Personal Side

By Craig Hastings
So who should have the final say as to whether all of us, some of us, or by our own choice, wear protective face masks and when and where we should wear them? As with all issues in America today this one has morphed into a political process. You know, this would be much easier to determine if there was clear science that told the tale one way or another but there isn’t. Some of you might argue that there is but as far as I’m concerned there isn’t. This too has been determined by our own individual political beliefs. It seems there is nothing we can do or think about on our own that politics won’t weigh in eventually. We have sunk as low as we can get here in America. What? Sure, the one thing we all can agree on is that there is a worldwide health risk crisis right? What we can’t agree on is how best to not only protect our own families but our own fellow citizens right here in America. Remember back a few months ago when we all thought it was a China thing? How many of us cared one bit about China’s problem? So what if the most populated continent in the world was losing some of its elderly population? As it’s turned out, the entire rest of the world should have cared.

Our own arrogance led us to believe that even if this horrible virus ever made it to our shores that our medical brilliance and superiority to that of the rest of the world would lead us safely away from any life threatening event. It wasn’t just Donald Trump and his band naysayers that down played this viral threat. Most all of us believed as they did. After all, how in the world could there be some witch’s brew out there in the year 2020 that could have the ability to choose which of us that it wanted to infect and ultimately kill? As with any of the recent viral infections of the eighties and nineties, Americans did our best to find reasons why these viruses attacked some people but not ourselves. First we looked at the lifestyles and life choices of those infected and quickly distanced ourselves from the infected by determining we didn’t do those things, hang with the same people, travel to the same places, or eat the same foods as most of the infected. I did it too! Sure did, and so did my friends! Well, those that didn’t have the newest virus anyway.

This example isn’t a virus but it speaks of the same mentality. When I would hear that someone I knew had come down with lung cancer or throat cancer I quickly went to “Well it’s because they smoked”. So I’m good, I convinced myself. Next, I put on a good shirt and pants many evenings after my brilliant conclusion and spent the next four hours in a nightclub somewhere inhaling as much or more second hand smoke as anyone I ever knew that actually smoked! And I did this for twenty years after! There were a couple of other viruses of the eighties I fortunately avoided and maybe, probably, it was because of the circumstances I didn’t put myself in back in the day, whew! But none of these was the instant killer this COVID-19 thing is.

I’ll be honest with you about my thoughts of the COVID-19 sickness. The fact that it kills people of all ethnicity makes me believe it isn’t choosy about any of our DNA makeups. That’s good I think because should we (not me but those of real and genuine genius ability) find a medical fix it should be good for all of us right? Here’s the scary, a little creepy, fact about this virus. This virus knows how to pick off the sick and elderly at will. It hasn’t mattered how much money a person had nor medical connections they had either. What virus in our world’s history has ever been able to pick which of us it kills? This one can. History taught us that barbarian civilizations routinely killed off their own old and weak. Sometimes even at birth a baby was killed because he/she “didn’t look right.” Maybe I’ve watched way too many episodes of “Ancient Aliens” because my analysis of this virus and it’s actions has become something not of this world at times.

I’ll leave you with one final thought of mine concerning COVID-19. I’m of simple mind and born with an average intellectual ability. Other than in jest I’ve never tried to convince anyone any different. But, my simple mind believes this may be a test for mankind. Will this virus, an intentional killer virus, be of importance enough to rally our world population to come together as one people to fight and defeat this killer? Or, will we remain divided and blaming one another for why it happened and not united figuring out how to defeat it? If we can’t come together as one for an event that has the ability to kill us all, are we a population worth saving? Maybe not I think. Maybe this virus should remain hands off those people innocent of understanding its implications on the world. Innocent because of their youthful age or innocent because of their mental capacity to understand how such a virus progresses and kills its victims. The world’s best historians told us about a big rock that hit the earth with such an impact it darkened the sun for enough years to kill just about everything on earth. They also told us about a whole bunch of rain that fell for days. That water drowned just about every living thing on earth. At least those without gills to breathe. Historians have also taught us that pockets of civilizations have been wiped out by “plagues” so similar to this virus in its ruthlessness to kill people. Entire cities all over the world have been discovered and unearthed only to find no signs of the people that inhabited them.

I believe we still have time to right the ship and fix what we have broken. But, if the fix doesn’t start right here in America, can it start anywhere else? If we are truly the greatest nation of people who have ever lived, why are we failing in this moment of need? Can we do this alone or will the fix require divine intervention? I think America and Americans are up to the task. When do we start?

(The views and opinions expressed in the submitted columns are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Journal.)