The other day as I was driving home from Elm Grove and up through Oglebay, I marveled at the majesty of Mother Nature’s
artistry. It was a cloudless day, and the sun shone as a spotlight on the trees dressed in their fall leaves of yellow, orange, gold, red, and purple. Sufficient verbiage doesn’t exist to describe such a spectacular array of colors, and it was uplifting to behold the pristine beauty of Nature’s handiwork.
I suddenly wondered why in that moment it felt so good to be alive, and then I realized I was looking at something unscathed by the ubiquitous and malicious tentacles of COVID-19. And I reentered reality with an unpleasant jolt. These are very tumultuous times in which we are living, and unfortunately the end is not yet in sight because many people apparently want to keep the virus alive by spreading it around.
By now you would think that we would’ve found a way to defeat the virus, but it will never die as long as reckless and irresponsible people keep it alive by defying the advice from disease experts. Ever since the damn thing hit, one of the things we have been urged to do is wear a mask. That is such a simple and harmless task, but apparently it’s just too much for many (including Trump) to bear.
Holding Our Breath
Several days ago I apprehensively made a foray to a local grocery store. I say apprehensively because I am terrified of contracting the dreaded virus. But I went to the store anyway properly masked because the sign on the store door asked all patrons to don a mask before entering.
I was browsing in the aisle for soft drinks when I noticed a couple coming toward me, and they were unmasked. As they drew closer to me, I calculated that we would collide in front of the diet Pepsi. Now a number of thoughts raced through my head: Do I ignore them? Do I turn around and walk the other way? Do I say
something to them? Or do I grab an eight pack of diet Pepsi and assault them with it?
Ultimately I decided to stop and let them walk by me. But as they did so, I must confess that I actually held my breath. Fortunately they walked by quickly, and so I didn’t pass out, but at least I may have kept myself from inhaling virus germs. And I didn’t even buy any soft drinks in case they may have breathed on some of them.
So what kind of a world is it when you’re hesitant to enter a grocery store? Or one in which a virus has killed in excess of 200,000 people in the United States alone? Or one presided over by a pathological liar who encourages massive rallies of people who don’t wear masks and who openly eschews the advice of medical experts? Or one in which cavernous stadiums like the ones at Ohio State and Michigan remain practically empty on game days? Or one where a leading expert on diseases discourages families coming together for Thanksgiving? Or one in which we can’t do something as invaluable as hugging our grandchildren?
Normalcy
The single answer to all these questions is that it’s our world now. And it’s repulsive, abhorrent, abominable, hideous, loathsome, and add your own adjective to the list. As horrible as COVID-19 is, however, we have the power to defeat it if only people would heed the advice of learned experts like Dr. Fauci instead of packing maskless venues to hear 90 minutes’ worth of Trumpspeak.
Heed instead the words of William Faulkner when he delivered his speech on accepting the Nobel Prize in 1949.
“…I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”
If we listen to the advice of the scientists and wear the masks and practice social distancing and wash our hands, let’s hope that at sometime in the not too distant future, we can at last regain some semblance of normalcy as we ultimately prevail.
