Work: It's what we Americans are ready to do.
Work. It's what we Americans were made to do. It's what most of us want to do and we don't handle being unable to do it very well. Why? Because if we want to support ourselves and our families, we know we have to work in order to live and prosper. I had that hammered into my head as a young boy by my father, a hard working son of immigrants who came to America to make a better life for themselves. They never got a handout, neither did Dad, and even though he was raised under very modest conditions, he worked his way through college and medical school and became a very successful doctor. He often quoted the saying that was posted in his high school yearbook about him which said, "Honor lies in honest toil." It's the way he lived and it was the way he taught me to live, yet today, others in powerful places expect us to sit silently and watch our lives fall apart, negating a lifetime of trying to do better. And a point made by one of the medical scientific types in yesterday's White House briefing just brought the realization of how this situation is viewed is largely based upon where each of us fall into our place in the situation.
The man who made the comment was a smart employee of the CDC, a medical doctor on the staff, saying that it was important to follow their established guidelines to the "T" since we are all in this together and we are all suffering as well. He was trying to say it as a pep talk but I took it just the opposite, for here was a well paid government employee located in the city that never faces the reality of the rest of the country. He was telling the rest of us who are starting to have many concerns about important things other than the CoronaVirius that we had to forget those concerns for now. As more and more time goes by, that won't sit very well with many of us and it's because it just isn't the way we were made. There's a strange thing about most traditional Americans and it is that we love our freedom and when we find it taken away, we want it back as soon as humanly possible. That's why if Washington or even state-level edicts remain too stringent for too long, trouble will ensue and no, I'm not talking about a revolution. What I'm talking about is the outcome through its impact that will shatter lives to a degree that will make he CoronaVirus look like child's play.
Some say they aren't worried because they are retired and have a great retirement, but don't they realize it takes a good economy to keep the basis for that retirement earning sufficient income to keep it going and remaining solvent. When we get the letter that the retirement is being cut, or even eliminated, when the money dries up, their cushy retirement turns to poverty and despair. This utter end applies to all of us, even those on the welfare public dole, who will find their benefits going out the window. Now that would normally give them the incentive to find work, but when the work isn't there, then what? The modern couple who both worked and now find their source of income gone will, if time goes on too long, turn from worrying about the future to finding a way to practice survival of the fittest. When thousands, then millions get to that point, Mad Max and Thunderdome will reappear and it won't be on the big screen, it will be right in a neighborhood near us. Even before that, waves of suicide and child and spousal abuse, alcohol and drug overuse will surface for those who can't cope. It's not going to be pretty.
Meanwhile, what about our politicians who make the decisions that get us into such situations and then have no idea how to extricate us from them? Well, we know that thus far none of them have suffered as they spout their cliches like the doctor mentioned earlier about "we're all in this together" and, in their case, they will be protected from those they serve by armed force and, likely, a walled city that was Washington or the state capital in any state USA if things get too bad. Yes, maybe that's overblown, but I think you see the point. If we Americans can't get our wits about us, we will be toast and what's even sadder, there are some among us who will cheer. They are the same ones who cheer the oil companies facing default and want to keep America closed interminably. The only thing is, and this will impact them just as much as the rest of us, when the power goes out and they can't fuel the taxpayer paid limousines that they are privileged to use, it won't matter because it will be too late. You see, when work shuts down and the taxpayer stops paying taxes because all the money is gone, it will be over for all of us. But there is another way and it's really simple and makes common sense. How about we get people back to work, safely and with great care for those who are suffering from this modern day plague, and keep our land alive and productive. It's the only approach that can work and with American ingenuity, hard work and dedication, it can, indeed be done. Have faith instead of gloom in your heart and come on, America, let's do this thing.
The man who made the comment was a smart employee of the CDC, a medical doctor on the staff, saying that it was important to follow their established guidelines to the "T" since we are all in this together and we are all suffering as well. He was trying to say it as a pep talk but I took it just the opposite, for here was a well paid government employee located in the city that never faces the reality of the rest of the country. He was telling the rest of us who are starting to have many concerns about important things other than the CoronaVirius that we had to forget those concerns for now. As more and more time goes by, that won't sit very well with many of us and it's because it just isn't the way we were made. There's a strange thing about most traditional Americans and it is that we love our freedom and when we find it taken away, we want it back as soon as humanly possible. That's why if Washington or even state-level edicts remain too stringent for too long, trouble will ensue and no, I'm not talking about a revolution. What I'm talking about is the outcome through its impact that will shatter lives to a degree that will make he CoronaVirus look like child's play.
Some say they aren't worried because they are retired and have a great retirement, but don't they realize it takes a good economy to keep the basis for that retirement earning sufficient income to keep it going and remaining solvent. When we get the letter that the retirement is being cut, or even eliminated, when the money dries up, their cushy retirement turns to poverty and despair. This utter end applies to all of us, even those on the welfare public dole, who will find their benefits going out the window. Now that would normally give them the incentive to find work, but when the work isn't there, then what? The modern couple who both worked and now find their source of income gone will, if time goes on too long, turn from worrying about the future to finding a way to practice survival of the fittest. When thousands, then millions get to that point, Mad Max and Thunderdome will reappear and it won't be on the big screen, it will be right in a neighborhood near us. Even before that, waves of suicide and child and spousal abuse, alcohol and drug overuse will surface for those who can't cope. It's not going to be pretty.
Meanwhile, what about our politicians who make the decisions that get us into such situations and then have no idea how to extricate us from them? Well, we know that thus far none of them have suffered as they spout their cliches like the doctor mentioned earlier about "we're all in this together" and, in their case, they will be protected from those they serve by armed force and, likely, a walled city that was Washington or the state capital in any state USA if things get too bad. Yes, maybe that's overblown, but I think you see the point. If we Americans can't get our wits about us, we will be toast and what's even sadder, there are some among us who will cheer. They are the same ones who cheer the oil companies facing default and want to keep America closed interminably. The only thing is, and this will impact them just as much as the rest of us, when the power goes out and they can't fuel the taxpayer paid limousines that they are privileged to use, it won't matter because it will be too late. You see, when work shuts down and the taxpayer stops paying taxes because all the money is gone, it will be over for all of us. But there is another way and it's really simple and makes common sense. How about we get people back to work, safely and with great care for those who are suffering from this modern day plague, and keep our land alive and productive. It's the only approach that can work and with American ingenuity, hard work and dedication, it can, indeed be done. Have faith instead of gloom in your heart and come on, America, let's do this thing.
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