Saturday Morning Coffee

My beautiful wife and I were having morning coffee this Saturday morning on our patio. The sun was beginning to peek up over the horizon. The best time here in Arizona to enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot for the day is in the mornings. Naturally, our conversation turned to the events of the day, “Henry,” she asked, “Do you think President Trump overreacted to the COVID-19 by having us lock-down?” This question created a nice opportunity to explore the idea without the background noise of the media interfering in such a thought.

I said, “Pat, here is what I think. No one living today has had to deal with a Pandemic before in the United States. There have been Pandemics throughout the history of humankind so that in and of itself is not the issue. The issue is how we faced the Pandemic that confronts us.”

Our reaction is what concerns me. Two different behaviors happened at the same time. President Trump closed our borders to China, and the Liberal media and politicians denounced this as an overreaction. Liberal politicians, like Pelosi, De Blasio, and Cuomo, along with the media bellowed that President Trump was a racist and countered that “everything” was all right. No need to worry. They said we are safe, encouraging everyone to the party, go to restaurants and get on the subways and go to work, and this helped spread the virus. So, we had an overreaction and a under-reaction essentially. The question that needs addressing at some point in history is who was right. That is the political question. The other question that looms in my thinking is “responsibility.”

“Exactly who was responsible for how we handled this Pandemic?” The Government has guidelines issued by different agencies like FEMA on what we are supposed to do in emergencies for preparedness. Every year we go through the cycle of hurricanes and watch on the news how the people in a certain area of the country rush to stores and strips the shelves of food and equipment as they prepare for the incoming hurricane. Most people remain unprepared. It is human nature to wait until it is almost too late.

Those guidelines work for this Pandemic. But, no one was listening and are blaming the Government and its leaders on misdirected information, misleading information, and confusing information. But was it the Government’s fault? In our political climate, the media played a relentless part in adding to the confusion for sure. The endless finger-pointing has begun and will continue. Ignore the noise!

The simplest example of confusion is wearing or not wearing masks. Once the country decided we had a Pandemic, people started thinking about how to protect themselves. Masks were the obvious first step, followed by mitigation or staying away from people. We went from masks do not protect you; they only protect medical staff and first responders. The general population is too stupid to know how to wear a mask. Therefore, the masks do not protect you. Now masks are almost required to be worn by everyone. I ignored the noise and bought masks, and my wife makes them now because our common sense told us too.

How many of us prepared for this Pandemic? None of us! Why? Because we did not listen to our common sense. We did not listen to warnings that came out by the CDC in 2017 that a Pandemic was coming. Nor did most people read about such Pandemics in books and how fragile humanity is to such viruses. The only people prepared are the so-called “Preppers” that constantly prepare for doomsday.

“We” are responsible at many different levels about how we handled this Pandemic. We placed people into our Government that was required to make decisions about our safety and prepare our country for calamities as part of our national defense. We are responsible for allowing these representatives over the years to move our industries and manufacturing to a hostile foreign country that tried to extort us during the Pandemic. We failed to hold our Government responsible for their lack of action. We are responsible at a personal level for not being prepared to protect our families. How many of us had the necessary supplies in our house to sustain us? Very few, I would imagine.

Critical thinking and common sense go hand in hand. I have taken steps to be better prepared more so than I was for what may come next. Another Pandemic, a resurgence of the same Pandemic, a civil war, a foreign invasion, who in the hell knows for sure? There are many considerations. Food, a way to defend yourself, medical supplies, clothing, water, and of course, toilet paper. We surely will parish without toilet paper. Excuse my sarcasm as I find the toilet paper issue a joke.

I do not think it is wise to tell what you have in mind to prepare publicly. Just keep it to yourself and do what you feel is necessary for your family. Think it all the way through and ask yourself, “What if,” and fill in the blanks. The next step is to vote and get the bad actors out, and hopefully, the good ones in to handle the Government responsibly. Most of all, let your common sense guide you, and thoughtful prayer helps. Be safe, protect yourself and your family.