Corona Virus is the only topic on people’s mind right now.
My wife, who just had a baby and is stuck at home, has to ask people who call
her to talk about something else because she just cannot stand having the same
conversation over and over again.
Luckily for me not much has changed. I am thankful my
workplace is still open (for now) and that I am able to work. I can still take
my dogs for walks or go play fetch with them and I can still go to the grocery
store.
To be honest my life has not changed a whole lot outside of
not being able to take my wife to dinner occasionally. As I make my way through
this pandemic I have noticed a few things.
Muh Rights
First issue I’d like to address is the people complaining
that the government has no authority to make them stay in their home. To some
extent I would agree with these people. But in times of crisis we can make the
choice to temporarily give up parts of our liberty in order to mitigate some of
the damage.
These people will say, “You should never give up any of your
liberty!” To which I would say, you already give up parts of your liberty every
day in order to make not only your life better but to make the lives of those
in your community better. The sacrifice you are making of certain liberties in
a time of crisis will go a long way in preventing damage and permanent loss of
those liberties in the future.
It is this sacrifice, even a temporary one, that will be
rewarded with trust within a society. Trust in a free society is the most
important commodity we can possess. The more we trust our fellow citizens the
less likely we will demand laws to regulate each other.
Do not squander your individual trust or the trust of your
country in a misguided understanding of freedom and liberty.
The Blame Game
This is starting to creep into the conversation and will
likely ramp up as this crisis continues. This crisis is not the fault of Donald
Trump or the Deep State or Democrats or Republicans. With the rare exception no
one really understood the magnitude of Coronavirus. We are in the middle of
this crisis and still do not fully understand it.
This could not have been prevented with nationalized healthcare.
This is obviously clear if you look at how counties like Italy (who have
nationalized healthcare) are handling this pandemic. Have things been handled
poorly, of course, the people handling them are human after all and hindsight
is 20/20.
It is easy to blame someone else for the problems in the
world. Doing so safely moves the responsibility for dealing with them (or
creating the problem in the first place) off your shoulders and onto someone
else.
If there is blame to be placed it should be placed on the
government of China. They have lied about this virus since the beginning, suppressed
information, and allowed it to spread once they became aware of how bad it
could be.
It did not help that the World Health Organization (WHO), or
as they have become known now the Chinese Health Organization, bought and
spread those lies. We also did not help because we wanted to believe them
because we did not want to face the reality of how bad things could get.
For right now we must put those criticisms off as they fall
outside the time horizon in which we are dealing with. Right now the bulk of
our focus should be around two things. Producing medical supplies to help deal
with people who have contracted the virus and finding a way to end the lock
down to get everyone back to work.
Never Let a Crisis Go
to Waste
One thing we need to watch out for is opportunistic people
who are attempting to exploit fear and uncertainty to do things that under
normal circumstances would not be done. I am not talking about the guy who
bought all the toilet paper at Costco and is now trying to sell it on ebay for
a profit (though if you are that guy, knock it off, what you are doing is still
wrong).
I am talking about our representatives pushing through
legislative items that have zero to do with solving the problem the legislation
is trying to help with. About using the cover of crisis and media malfeasance to
funnel money to pet projects or unrelated functions.
We do not need an increase in airplane fuel emission
standards as part of our Coronavirus relief bill. We do not need to nationalize
industries. Industry simply needs to be asked and they will step up. The number
of companies shifting production from consumer goods to medical supplies
increases daily.
If you think they could do it faster and better if they had
to report to a bureaucrat before they made each choice then you seriously do
not understand how business works. These companies are stepping up because they
love this country and know it is in their best interest to do so. These
business owners who are constantly vilified as greedy capitalist villains are
the ones producing the sorely needed masks and gowns and ventilators that the
government (over 3 different administrations) did not replenish.
At the end of the day we will get through this. The quarantine
will be lifted, the virus will be defeated, and we can all move on. Yes we will
have lots of work to do to repair the damage done by essentially halting the
world economy, but in times like these patriotic Americans roll up their sleeves,
clean up the mess, and press on.
It is tough and will get tougher but we have the strength,
the courage and the determination to make it through this. We just have to take
it one day at a time, help where we can, and avoid giving into the demons of
our fouler nature. Each of us can make a difference in how this crisis turns
out, we should try to do our best to mitigate as much suffering as possible.
