Working Towards Our Own Demise
Opening the economy too early makes no sense. But what else is new?
If every restaurant opened tomorrow, there might be a lot of people there. I won’t be one of them. Some members of my community may label me as scared or overreacting. That is fine with me. I am not going to put myself in harm’s way to disprove their assessment of my decision.
It says much about where we are in this country that even a pandemic cannot bring us together for a common cause. As of this writing, over 47,000 have died from coronavirus in the last three months, and close to one million people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus. We are in a situation where 800 people dying daily is good news. As of April 15, New York alone has had more deaths than any other country except France, Spain, and Italy. In mid-April, New York had averaged over 700 deaths per day. If you want updates ( or don’t believe me), the latest statistics can be found here: Coronavirus stats.
With these numbers, you would think (or hope) that our country will rally together for a common cause. But this is not a Pearl Harbor moment in our history. We are living in an era that will be labeled as the facts don’t matter age. No matter how many deaths that have occurred, is occurring and will occur, there is a large contingent of Americans believe all of this is a figment of our imagination. They believe this is a deep-state conspiracy made up to dispose of the president in the upcoming November election. People are taking sides not only over the intensity over the pandemic but even over if there is a pandemic at all!
Trump is defending the people who are protesting their state government’s decision for state shutdowns. He knows, despite facts, or even his own beliefs, that it will be a tall task to demand states open all of their businesses. Instead, he stands on the sidelines and not so subtly supports the back to work movement. Many of the protesters are Trump supporters.
I am clear-headed about our economic fallout that the coronavirus is causing. It is disastrous for the economy and, in turn, even more, catastrophic for the people who are losing their income. This pandemic is going to leave a mark. Some businesses will not return at all and leaving the employees in an even more precarious situation. The longer the shutdown, the worse things will become. There is no arguing with that fact. If this goes on, our economy will end up in a depression of which we could have never imagined in our worst nightmares only a few months ago. This is what all of America faces. But even with this bleak outlook, it is still better than being dead.
Some politicians believe that there are worse things than dying. That may be so. I really have not experienced those things yet, and maybe he has not either. However, I will choose life and take my chances in this imperfect world. If I am going to make an error, I am going to error on the side of safety. When all of the fog and smoke of this pandemic clears, I may be accused of having overreacted during the pandemic. That accusation is fine with me.
Contrary to what others may think about people like me — that would be people thinking I am against opening up the economy, I am not living in fear. My life is not being lived huddled, shivering in my corner, and afraid of even the slightest contact from other humans. I go out every day. I take walks, I hike, I go to the stores, I work in my yard, I visit state parks and take photographs. While inside, I skype with my family and talk to other family and friends that do not skype. In all of these things I do, being afraid of catching the coronavirus is not one of my worries. It is effortless; I wash my hands frequently (as I always have), I wear a mask when I am around people, usually when I go to Walmart, and I don’t let people cough directly in my mouth. Really, there is no more to it for me. It is not a big deal. It may be a little inconvenient, but it is worth it.
Just because I do not live in constant fear of the coronavirus, it does not mean I will foolishly risk my life. If politicians order everything opened too early, I would first like to see them hang out with the proletariats that they presume to rule over. Politicians are acting like military officers, blowing a whistle to order their men to head out of the trenches and make a charge towards the enemy. The officers know many in their charge will die, but they stay safe in the trenches. I want to see politicians going to tattoo parlors, bars, movie theaters, restaurants, and concerts to mingle with the masses of people they are ordering back to work.
To stick with that war analogy, the safety of the officers themselves will be short-lived, as a powerful enemy will soon overrun those trenches and kill them too. Just as opening the economy too early will harm the people who are at ground zero working to keep tour economy going, the menace of the coronavirus will soon be at the doorstep of those that worked to get the economy going at the cost of the life of those on the frontline. When that happens, no accusations of overreactions, fake news, or deep state conspiracies will save them from suffering the same fate as those they have no real regard for.
