On March 18, 2020, Bill Whittle heard California’s lockdown would start at midnight. If you could talk to your self on that day, what would you tell your pre-COVID self to help get through the past year?
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Video below hosted Rumble.
49 replies on “Marking March 18: What Would You Tell Your Pre-COVID Self to Get Through Lockdown Year?”
At the end of February 2020, before any of the lockdowns in NY, I was surprised when the local supermarket was unusually busy on a Saturday morning, when in the past I had been able to get in and get out quickly. I knew that Covid was coming, and I expected that the government response to it would be far worse than the disease itself.
If I could send a message back to my former self, it would be:
I currently don’t have anything that I would tell myself. Maybe that the shortages would be short lived. Maybe that the touching your face and surfaces stuff wasn’t as important. Colorado though did a pretty good job compared to a lot of other states. We were 42nd in deaths per capita compared to the rest of the states, and our full lockdown was under a month, then we started shifting to statistics based reopening, my own county was barely ever back under major restrictions. We had moderate restrictions from about October to January. Colorado residents pretty much reacted before the government, and the government didn’t go too overboard, unlike New York and California.
A year ago I was in Montreal and my husband called and said they were closing the border. There was no question what had to be done. I spent the afternoon loading the car with my personal possession, research materials, everything in the flat that I owned. He came home from work early with another car and we drove down, for him to be told he had half an hour or he would be locked out of Canada, which would be the end of his job. So we drove to a town right there, stood in a deserted car park, and said our good byes. I drove through the north woods, in the dark, alone, to our home. I didn’t see him again for 6 months, and the couple of times he has managed to get across we don’t know what will happen, because it is all dependant on the mood of the guards at the border. I have kids in the Emirates: I don’t know if or when I will see them again. I have inlaws in their 90’s in the UK. I am reconciled to the fact I will probably never see them again. I have a grand child born last month that I don’t know if or when I will be allowed to see or hold in person. I’ve seen my husband 3 times in the last year, and the one time we met at a secluded place on the border, the cameras caught us and he was escorted away by both Canadian border guards and police, with lights flashing. The Americans didn’t arrest me, thank heavens. What would I tell myself? I’d tell myself to be ready to dig down and find strength, because there’s more there than I realised. To focus hard on the good. And amidst the pain and loneliness there has been good. I learned I can live alone after nearly 40 years of marriage and family. My friends are more awesome than I ever realised. I got a job here in the north woods, learned how to chainsaw and stack wood. If the car gets stuck in the snow I can dig it out myself, as long as I don’t give up. It’s ok to hurt. It’s ok to cry. It’s not ok to give up. I would also tell myself that yeah, the gubmint is as stupid, power hungry, and venal as I always suspected.
You should have come to MS, Bill. You would have seen all those things. Patients on gurneys in the hallways because there was no room for them. (I had a coworker who died that way). ERs converted to COVID wards because there were no beds available. (My friend’s sister had to spend several days in the ER waiting for a bed to open up.) Heart attack and car wreck victims airlifted to other states because we didn’t have ICU beds available. All of the nightmare scenarios you claim didn’t happen absolutely happened here. It got very rough here for a while, but we got through it and came out stronger than ever.
So, what I would tell myself is,
Hang in there. All pandemics eventually end.
Don’t get your science off of Facebook.
Expect just as much misinformation and fearmongering from the right as you do from the left.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and expect somewhere in between.
One of my wife’s friends was an OR nurse and she told us years ago that they have to change their masks every hour or whenever they get wet with exhaled moisture when doing surgery because once wet, they let bacteria and viruses penetrate the fabric of the mask. This sounds reasonable and just shows how effective a mask really is. Or isn’t.
During this whole debacle, the only times I wear a mask is when I’m in a store so people won’t throw me out. I have stood and talked to a policemen for over 20 minutes in front of a store, just shooting the breeze, and neither one of us was wearing one. He never mentioned it. He is an officer I’ve encountered on my newspaper route many times and we are friends. He has asked me to report any vandalism I see in my travels or strangers walking around that don’t look right.
My son just went to a rehab center for physical therapy for a really sore back. He’s on lockdown for 14 days with no visitors and he’s going bat**** crazy being alone in a strange place. His therapy probably won’t take that long and he’ll probably be discharged before the 2 week period, we can only hope.
My advice to me back then would have been to be much more vocal about the assault on American liberties. The government has no right to declare any job “non-essential.” Nor do they have a right to shut down businesses in the name of “keeping me safe.” The government’s job is to protect my rights. Their job is to give me the information they have, make recommendations, and let me decide how best to keep myself and my family safe.
And Steve, if you’re going down a grocery aisle against the arrows and someone harasses you about it, turn around so you are facing the right direction (according to the arrows) and walk backwards.
How the elderly in nursing homes and hospitals were kept away from family and friends, isolated and forced to die alone, was the most egregious and inhumane treatment which cannot be justified by this so-called pandemic which has been greatly exaggerated.
The only real changes in my area, when this first started looking serious was, masks, no traffic, and no toilet paper. But I’m like Phil Robertson…in so much as the fact that I know how to survive inconveniences. lol
During Dec of 2019, my mom and I had a very serious talk. She was pretty ill. I was surprised that she made it to Christmas. Severe COPD due to over 6 decades of smoking will complicate your life. She knew that it was flu season and she told me that the next virus she gets will likely be her last. She had daytime care at that point, but nights she was ok to sleep. We had gone through the protocols for her EOL several times.
Well, early Jan comes and she spiked a high fever and had serious trouble breathing. I stayed with her two nights while trying to set up hospice care for the evenings. She passed in her own bed with me, my wife and daughter and her main caregiver holding her hands. The new night time person knocked on her apartment door literally 10 minutes after the police got there.
I feel tremendous sadness for those who had to die alone.
Did she have covid? Likely yes. It was not the flu that was tested for. But this was really early. Oh, and I had a coworker who had come back from China and Japan in early Nov, he had a persistent cough for 5 weeks. So I probably gave it to my mom. But it still isn’t what killed her. She was already pretty ill.
In my circle of people, I personally know 50 plus who have tested positive. Some were sick for a week or more. None died that weren’t already very close to that point.
On the other end of the spectrum are my in-laws. 90 and 87. They made it clear to their children and grandchildren, that they were not going to be kept captive in their home, they were living life. They didn’t expect to never die but were not going to spend the end in self-imposed jail.
They still drive, go to the store, walk the mall. And they are just fine. They have taken almost no precautions as stipulated by the Karens of the world, yet they are ok.
Healthy people are not dying from this. I would tell my self a year ago, this too shall pass. But fight the government overreach that is the big threat.
Yes, that was the worst of it last year, being unable to visit/comfort people in the hospitals, nursing homes… Thinking back, I think that is the #1 thing I would change, if only we had known how long this would last.
If I were to leave myself a message for a year ago, it would be . . .
The # of dead will not be apocalyptic, but how easily Americans went to their knees (and stayed there) will be the death blow no pandemic could have ever conjured.
Yesterday I went to visit my Mom at her assisted living home, and ran into a guy there who was becoming pretty good friends with my dad at the time of his death last April (non-Kung Flu related). He lamented that there are hardly any new residents moving in while he’s had to watch a few of his friends move on, whether by dying or having to move into memory care. Most telling is that my folks’ old apartment is still vacant (we downsized her from a 2BR to a 1BR), when 2 BR apartments in assisted living homes are apparently pretty rare.
It kills me that what this damned virus and our leadership’s failures are doing to the greatest generation at the end of their lives after everything they did for this country
We are STILL allowing our “leadership’s” failures. We have no one to blame but ourselves for ANY of this to still be going on.
Why do you say “we”? I did everything in my power to combat this and many, many other threats to the Republic over my entire life. This has included putting my own life in jeopardy several times. I don’t know who “we” is but it’s not me.
Being as you’re here, it’s probably not you either.
Unless you’re a Leftist megalomaniacal wanna-be tyrant that saw COVID as a route to power … or a minion thereof. Because that’s the “we” who is to blame here.
The reason I take issue with using “we” is the above and the fact that blame should be laid where blame is due. I won’t take blame I have not merited and I’m pretty firm about that. If you don’t merit blame then neither should you. That’s like saying that “we” held slaves and “we” are responsible to provide reparations for slavery. I didn’t have anything to do with that and neither did you so don’t fall into that self-blaming guilt trap the Left so successfully wields.
There are two sides to this conflict and it is a conflict. There’s us and there’s them. There’s “we” who have done our best to keep things real and operational and there’s “them” who have done their best to thwart us. If you’re not among “them” then be careful how you use “we” when assigning blame.
Or just confine yourself to speaking for yourself because you sure as heck don’t speak for me when you say things like “We have no one to blame but ourselves for ANY of this to still be going on.”
Sorry I offended you. I totally understand that probably all of us here have fought for various rights, causes, etc. to no avail.
When I say “we”, I mean “we the people”. As a nation, as Americans, together, united, a force to be reckoned with, etc.
We The People, as a force, united cannot be stopped.
But the majority of Americans who are divided, afraid, brainwashed (pick something) and will not stand up for their fellow Americans and country (or even self) is our achilles heel.
If “I” don’t wear a mask, what does it change? I can easily be arrested under Napoleon edicts by bully cops. But if “we the people” would refuse to wear masks, then the cops can’t arrest us all and it would take away the power of our little dictators.
Perhaps there is no “We The People” anymore. Maybe our institutions, social media, entertainment, and MSM has succeeded in erasing all the things that once made us strong as a people and country.
The solution is so simple.
I respect your opinion, but I will continue to use the language I use because that is who I am and I will exercise my free speech until my last breath.
Sorry, it’s just the inbred belief in America and its founding principles coming out.
Blessings to you and all you’re doing to be one of “us” and not “them”.
But … “we” the people, as a Nation, as Americans, are not together, united and a force to be reckoned with. The people of the United States of America comprises two groups now. Those who respect, revere, understand and uphold the Republic and those who would knowingly or not bring destruction on the Republic.
Sorry, that’s just my innate belief (I’m not inbred in any sense of the word) in America and its founding principles coming out.
No amount of wishful thinking or denial will change that reality. Believing and speaking otherwise is a refusal to accept reality. It is the same caliber of thought as refusing to use the words “Islamic Terrorism”.
We are engaged in a conflict. It’s a political conflict so far and not a shooting war but it’s a very real conflict nonetheless. I don’t want it to become a shooting war and that’s why I make this point to you.
You can be certain that the other side in this conflict does not think of you as “we”, as one of them. They do not see you as a fellow American whose opinions and rights are to be respected even in times of disagreement. They’re nowhere near so worried about you as to grant such dignities to you. The other side is already talking about political re-education camps for YOU and people like you.
I didn’t say anything about wearing masks or the power of civil disobedience and that has nothing to do with my point. That’s simply a flowery, lofty sounding semantically null deflection from my point. So …
You’re most welcome to use whatever forms of speech you see fit and by all means exercise your right to Freedom of Speech. I fully support that.
I thank you likewise for your kind blessings and your full support of MY Freedom of Speech too. Which includes speaking to what other speakers say, including you.
I absolutely refuse to be a “we” in the group of people who “have no one to blame but ourselves for ANY of this to still be going on.” The people in that group are enemies of the Republic and I’m not among them.
When I see someone trying to include me in that group I’m going to strenuously object. I also happen to think that anyone who includes themselves in that group, through whatever cerebral gymnastics and rationalizations, needs to be examined for the presence of a working spinal column.
Saying “we” are at fault is misplacing blame and misidentifying the cause. It’s a lazy and chickenshit way to avoid confrontation that you can rest assured the other side will not use.
“We” did not ask for this situation, it has been thrust upon us against our will and against our most reasonable efforts. If “we” do not wake up to the threat, the adversary will continue and add to the success they currently enjoy. This is no time for namby-pamby Kum Bah Ya hugs and group self-recrimination.
That’s MY innate belief in America and its founding principles coming out.
Semper Fidelis is not just a cool motto.
Funny how I see we are saying the same things, only in a different way.
I do understand Semper Fidelis, having served myself.
Maybe I lend too much hope to the America I grew up with. I concede to that “unreality”.
I logically know there are 2 sides now. Still hoping the “us” side is more of a majority than it seems to be painted.
I don’t want to see it come to arms or war either, for I’ve seen the far-reaching affects of such things.
But I also think “them” are so far ahead of us in plan and action that our boycotts, walking away, initiating change on our local levels, etc. will not be enough or timely enough.
Each of us can do our part as best we can, but we are still weaker individually.
Grayson Beckman earlier commented about how Scott’s story of the 90 year old really pissed Grayson off. I had a different reaction.
My Dad passed away at the ripe age of 91 and 11/12ths. He passed in November 2017. Up until September 15th of that year, that 91 year old was driving, shopping, gardening, active in his Lions club. Then he fell ill and my sister and I got dad into the local hospital. Doctors and Nursing staff did their best, really fought off the sepsis infection for weeks, and every day and every night, either my sister or me sat with dad, by his side, giving comfort, encouragement and hope. 21 days at the hospital. then a few more weeks at a convelescent facility. Again, every day and every night, my sister and I were by Dad’s side. Even when sleeping. We were there for him. And I knew, even in his last days, that he knew we were there to comfort him.
Covid hit in 2020. That convelscent facility is on my way from home to the grocery store. I pass it regularly. All I can think about is this, and it fills me with such sadness….
How many loved ones, how many families, have had to suffer the same thing I went through with my Dad, but NEVER, EVER, be able to sit by the side of their dear mom or dad or uncle or aunts , or sister/brother….due to some Karen’s regulation, some future presidential hopeful Governor’s edict, from giving care, comfort and hope…..
And knowing now, that with stringent but proper precautions, your presence Could Have Been There to give comfort. Maddening, frustrating and most of all just so sad. These sick loved ones suffered alone for long week, days, hours and minutes….
A friend of mine had a Sister that was dying of cancer. She was crying because she wasn’t allowed to see her sister because of rona rules. Only 1 person, per day, for 1 hour could see her.
I told my friend that if it were my sibling, they would have to arrest me because I would see my sibling and screw “the rules”.
Her sister passed and she wasn’t able to see her before she died.
Funerals are much the same. Not allowed to comfort the grieving.
I think seeing dying loved ones and not being able to comfort the grieving at their funeral is one of the most devastating effects of rona for all concerned.
But here we are as Americans, a whole year later, STILL taking it. WHY?
I don’t know that I would have told myself anything different or done anything different.
Being semi-retired (I work but “work” entails being available to the clients I still have because they didn’t want to trust their systems to someone else) I have plenty of time to keep up on current information. So I spent a lot of time trying to understand not what we were being told was happening but what was actually happening. By the end of April I had decided that COVID-19 presented little to no real threat to me and basically went about my life the way I had pre-COVID.
But my life is a little different than ‘most people’. I live in a rural area and have worked from home exclusively for several years. I was already having my groceries delivered because it’s cheaper than driving to the store and a lot less aggravating than walking around a grocery store for 2 hours. I buy my groceries once every month or two because I grew up in a northern tier state where weather could stop all travel for an extended period. So when I get food, I seriously stock up rather than buy for my immediate needs. I rarely need to drive more than a few miles (I have to keep my Jeep on a trickle charger or the battery goes dead because it can sit for so long) and that didn’t change with COVID.
My family, the parts I care to see anyway, lives within yards of where I live.
My best friend lives just down the street in walking distance and my other friends I visited no more and no less than pre-COVID. None of us made any effort to wear masks or significantly altered our pre-COVID behavior after the end of April 2020.
My best friend’s daughter joined the Navy and I threw a neighborhood BBQ and pool party for her going away party in July. Only one of the neighbors did anything that could be considered “social distancing” but I recall at the time thinking he was just being odd, like he’s prone to be. It really didn’t occur to me until afterwards that his goal might actually have been “social distancing” and his wife ignored that and him during the several hours long party.
Etc.
I’m clearly not dead.
The biggest problem, the real problem, has been getting accurate and reliable information. Bill provided some great info and clues to get more info during the early days of COVID and I appreciate his efforts.
In many respects my day to day is similar to yours. Work from home, and have for the past 10 years up to present. I haven’t changed much of anything in my daily habits to conform to covid. I have postponed dentist and eye appointments because of a stubborn refusal to go through what I regard as stupid, illogical protocols. But, I don’t have any health problems and I don’t have frequent exposure to high concentrations of people, unlike people living in large urban areas, so if I seem cavalier in my attitude, that is probably why. Still, I know people whose circumstances mirror mine to some degree, and they are eating up the scare-mongering, almost with relish. Why? I think it gives them excuses to avoid meeting some of their responsibilities, and it gives them some kind of weird “Affiliation of the Mask Wearer” that they like.
Some of the masked fashion chic is due to peer pressure. Not all but some of it. We’re subject to peer pressure all our lives, it goes with being a human.
The difference is that some of us grew out of the stifling sort of peer pressure that childhood and adolescence tried to crush us with … and some did not. Some people found a coping method by bowing to pressure exerted by the opinions of their contemporaries and some did not. I was one who did not, and I wasn’t a terribly popular kid in school. (I’m sure that will surprise many here … not.)
I’m more of a “figure it out for myself” kind of person but I’m not totally exempt from peer pressure. The thing about that is, I have very few actual peers. I’m not talking about social peers or political peers or “my fellow Americans” as peers. I’m talking about real peers as defined in the dictionary —
Noun:peer
So it all depends on what group you consider to be peers. My group would be —
Patriotic Constitutional Americans of well above median intelligence the majority of whom have served their fellow man in a capacity that requires personal sacrifice and significant personal danger. People who examine issues carefully with sobriety and criticality, whose opinions are the result of the examination of verifiable facts considered in sufficient depth so as to be able to defend their ideas with logic and reason.
You’ll note that I mentioned two separate aspects above, either one is something that makes a person a candidate to be a peer of mine. Not every one has had opportunity to serve but the vast majority of my real friends are veterans of military or hazardous government service.
“Hazardous government service” like pursing evil-doers to protect the lives and integrity of the average, non-peer group person. People who understand how amazingly wonderful it is to have stood between your neighbor and evil, allowing him or her to live out their lives as they see fit and their deep understanding of that role is not only not required but not comfortable to expose them to. (Look up “sheep dog mentality” if you don’t know what I’m talking about here.)
Not like a third rate quota hire warming a comfortable chair somewhere in the fetid bowels of the Department of Health and Human Services. We refer to those types as “pogues” btw.
In my peer group there are zero Leftists and very damn few actual Liberals … Though my best friend’s wife could easily qualify as a conscientious genuine Liberal she is certainly not a Leftist. But she is a military wife and as much as I hold her in high esteem she does not make the grade as one of my peers.
Among my peers, I am subject to the subtle peer pressure of their opinions. I do not find this to be a liability but an asset. I don’t claim to know everything and I learn from my peers while reciprocating that favor. If you were me or knew more about my personal history you might understand that someone like me is well served by the occasional reality-check delivered by an exterior viewpoint.
All of this explains and amplifies on my original post which you replied to. Considering other discussions we’ve had and the things I’ve seen you say — I believe we think along very similar lines and that you would be comfortable in my peer group, whether you chose to be a member or not.
There is an abundance of such people here on BillWhittle.com and that adds quite a lot to my enjoyment of the discussions I have here. Many but not all, there are still enough boneheads to make this tedious at times.
Thank you and please know that I am honored to be considered someone who would be a fit within your peer group. I read all your posts and always find them intelligent, well-written, thought provoking, and often presenting a POV that broadens my own perspective. I nearly always agree with you, though occasionally I am taken aback by your forthrightness in speaking your mind, which I like very much.
Probably one of the reasons I’m a bit of a loner, aside from being an introvert, is how seldom it is that I find a “peer” with whom to share ideas, opinions and observations. That is why I love the comment section here at BW, and completely concur with your last paragraph. This is a community in which I want to belong. This isn’t a compliment lightly bestowed – I generally scan through the comment sections of other websites I visit and believe me, some of them aren’t places to find circumspection, respect for others, or much of anything that enriches one for spending the time reading them.
I always look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Fair warning. The proceeding is a verifiable rant.
I have a fairly cynical turn of mind, and approach scare-mongering with a dubious attitude. I don’t have very many characteristics of what would be described as “an average American”, i.e. I don’t care much about being part of the herd; I don’t purposely access MSM, typically making a point of avoiding it, but what does cross my path I regard as lies, manipulation, and propaganda from both sides of the political spectrum. I just don’t freakin’ believe any of it unless I witness it with my own eyes. I don’t need much of a social group; I don’t mind being alone; I’m not a consumer. I can find enjoyment in the entertainment and activities I choose; most of which don’t include other people. All that is to say that from the very first time I learned about this virus, I dismissed it as hyperbolic over-reaction. Which is what it was and still is. Once the contradictions made by the “experts” became so frequent, about one month in, I decided that the illogical and ludicrous nature of the response to a virus which is quite similar to every other virus that exists, no longer merited any credence. I refused to participate – no mask, no social distancing, no excessive hygiene, no living in fear, and not falling prey to worrying about what other people think of my resistance to unwarranted control. To be succinct, I made a personal decision to believe my own common sense and to let that rule me.
The worst part of this whole year is seeing my fellow citizens succumb to and cooperate with the over-bearing, tyrannical treatment by government authorities at every level. I’ve learned that many people mindlessly accept what they are told, disengage critical thinking skills, if they possess them, and go along with whatever they are told to do. Unquestioning. Boggles my mind! In my social sphere, small as it is, people who are intelligent, reasonable and responsible, living productive and ordered lives have been just as susceptible to the brainwashing as those with chaotic lives as a result of poor choices and decisions, who are on the lower end of the intelligence spectrum. Apparently intelligence is no protection.
For every person with whom I am acquainted, only one out of 10 believe as I do. The rest have totally bought the fiction. To sound even more hard hearted, I’m tired of hearing every conversation about this manufactured event prefaced with the trite statement that every life is precious, and every loss is a tragedy. The majority of people who have lost their lives were on the cusp of death or rapidly heading in that direction. Tragedy? No. Circle of Life? Yes.
Killing or financially ruining people for the purpose of saving lives that were pretty much already at their full cycle is the real tragedy. Hastening the end of those lives, like Cuomo, Whitmer, Newsom, Fauci, and other ideological psychopaths have done, because they are addicted to the control they wield, deserve being charged with murder and malice aforethought, followed by a life sentence in prison. A generation of children are being harmed and disadvantaged, which is unconscionable.
The people relentlessly promoting and benefiting from the evil that has been done are jackals feeding ravenously on the barely alive carcass of this (once) great country. History, if it is still allowed to exist, will excoriate them, and this period will go down as one of the greatest follies to have ever existed.
Bravo, Lynda. I concur 100%, especially concerning the absolute acceptance of the lies, distortions, overreactions, and total crap shoveled at us by the Faucis, Birxes, and the Media Lie Production System (MELPS) by people who should know better. When face diapers became chic and nouveau and became available in designer colors, I knew then that the entire chicanery was a fraud.
While I distrust politicians — all of them, btw, not just those on the left — I was NOT astonished to see the level of tyranny exhibited by the governors of their respective states – California, Michigan, NY, NJ, and elsewhere. I was slightly more encouraged to see how DeSantis in Florida basically thumbed a nose at those cretins. In a very great way, Covid exposed those criminals for who and what they are.
In a very real sense, while I’m still stunned at the naivete of so many otherwise smart people, I’m saddened by it. Somehow I also naively thought that Americans would not bow and scrape to these tyrants, but so many have. What happened to us? What happened to the natural skepticism and independence that once formed the basis for our society and country? Many of us — not all, thank God — have become sheep and are being led by those who relish their own power and seek every opportunity to expand it.
What has happened to us is two-fold: One, admirable qualities (courage, independence, responsibility, and a tolerance for risk) for which our country was known and famed, have been slowly and patiently schooled out of us. Second, over two generations we have become soft, comfortable, and wealthy. Even the poorest in our country live without want, and if they do without the basics, it’s because of the choices they have made, not racism or anything else but lack of personal responsibility. Many of our countrymen have relinquished their freedom and independence to the shackles of a nanny state, and like it that way just fine. If anything positive arises from this mendacious debacle it will be to serve as a wake-up call to Americans who still retain some semblance of character that once made America great.
Once again you’re on point. But I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel on this country. It’s still the best thing going, and we’re witness to it (again) at the southern border.
I know far too many people who, like me, find it appalling that so “many of our countrymen have relinquished their freedom and independence to the shackles of a nanny state, and like it that way just fine.” At the same time, this is the result of an education system that has taught us that being a victim is desirable, that a handout is better than a hand up, and that while there isn’t any money to pay the rent, there’s money for a cell phone.
Thirty years ago, the very idea of a “Gofundme” page would have been met with derisive laughter. Disgusting on far, far too many levels.
I’m fighting back and I’m starting with local politics.
Precisely! Fighting back is the spirit our country and Constitution was founded upon and I am glad to know you are one of the awakened, stepping up to carry the flag, battered as it has been by those who would destroy everything about our country that is good.
I haven’t sent any money to a Go Fund Me campaign myself, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. These campaigns are private sector, no one is forced to contribute, hopefully no one is conned out of money they truly needed, and sometimes the recipients are really deserving and appreciative of what they receive (granting that that amount sometimes grows to levels far beyond what anyone needs or expects to make themselves whole or well again).
And like that young man who set up a personal beer fund, he ended up donating all or most of what he obtained to charities — without any government control or coercion involved. The internet enables a wider pool of contributors than might be reached via the more usual local solicitations. And I suspect sometimes the contribution is more personal, made by people with specific experience or expertise rather than just sending money.
But otherwise, I agree with the basic sentiment that you and Lynda have been expressing.
You are wise to avoid the tyranny of extremes. Kudos to you.
Though that GoFundMe thing might have been a poor example of the downfall of our society and as such perhaps in retrospect Allen Lawless might have come up with something better … There’s a difference between the stodgy curmudgeonliness of yelling at kids to “get off my lawn” and tossing them a wave and a smile as they retrieve their ball and leave that carefully husbanded patch of grass all on their own.
For my part, I’m an old grump but only where grumpiness is justly applied. Just because something is new or different doesn’t mean it deserves automatic condemnation. Rather it should be viewed and weighed on its own merits and failings. Thanks for pointing that out, I think it’s important that we do so.
Please read my response to George Walther. I have contributed to various GoFundMe efforts only when I know the person who is requesting the funding is truly needy AND who is actively working to get out of that proverbial corner. So I know what I’m talking about.
But I’ve seen lots of overtures from people whose sincerity I doubt when they beg for a handout from strangers. There used to be this quality called “pride in oneself.” I’m not so sure that quality is nearly as prevalent as it was 30 years ago.
And yeah – I’m the Mr. Wilson of old. I’m the Clint Eastwood of “Gran Torino” fame as well. I have no problem with that and make no apologies for it either.
I’m not sure I was clear enough in my post. What I’m getting at is the attitude of many I’ve seen who, rather than pick themselves up by the bootstraps at the onset of trouble, automatically go to GoFundMe for the handout that, appallingly, so many are willing to be duped into giving.
This is not to suggest that there is no such thing as compassion or altruism. Certainly my own back has been against the wall a time or two, but rather than resort to begging for a handout, I solved my own problems. Too many of us don’t do that any more.
GoFundMe has become, in many cases, a lazy man’s way of begging, seems to me. Can it be used for good purposes? Of course it can. But that doesn’t mean using that system is a substitute for good, honest hard work in solving one’s own problems. I’ve seen evidence of just that far too many times to call them “outliers.”
I agree with you. Check out the people and circumstances by whom or for which the request of funding is made. There is something called Pathological Altruism and it is quite harmful to the recipients, but it sure makes the donors feel virtuous. This is more in line with charities, public and private, that collect and give on behalf of 3rd world countries, but it can also apply to individuals.
The hardest part for me has been the destruction of my beliefs about what Americans are (were).
I thought we’d rebel. I thought we’d refuse these stupid edicts after a few weeks and we figured out it was a power/control grab.
I kept thinking, “surely we’ll wake up and stand up now.” Over and over again.
In my heart I hope we’ll still stand up, but I no longer expect it from the majority of Americans.
We are not the people of our forefathers anymore.
At least not the majority of us.
It is sad beyond words to realize my country has fallen so easily and we haven’t the balls to do anything about it.
Absolutely! I work in a part of the country that has an abnormally-high concentration of highly-educated, highly-intelligent people who each have multiple academic credentials and honors hanging on their names and walls. None of that matters. The zealotry of mask-wearing and social distancing (i.,e., self-imposed anonymity and isolation) is overwhelmingly popular here. I have a small cadre of friends who don’t comply unless a visit to the grocery store is necessary, but we are in the minority. Your estimate of one-in-ten seems to hold as an upper bound estimate.
Like you, I find all of this very disturbing. Our populace has unthinkingly become a collection of faceless drones who appear no different than those observed in pictures of the Chinese military on parade.
This type of separation from family and information has been playing out for decades. We are losing and have lost so much actual lived history and especially their wisdom. Generations are passing unable to share their actual knowledge, lessons learned, and actual history. The socialist aristocrats are “rewriting”(that is the wrong word) lets try “re-scripting”, history and changing it until it doesn’t resemble anything like the original. Generations of Americans have been indoctrinated to not listen to their elders, as the elders are just to old to understand. This has bled into Americans not listening to the actual people whom lived through the history, but instead the new generations watches the most recent re-scripting made for social change media propaganda. Printed information is almost dead, and with it accountable, verifiable information is also being destroyed. One push of a button on the electronic media can change every single version of the incident.
We seem doomed to repeat history.
Logan’s Run was prophetic when one considers comments like yours and the New York nursing home fiasco.
I can see the correlation, nice.
Look, I spent 2016-2018 fighting cancer (now 3y9m cancer-free, by the grace of God).
I have a wfh job, so Winnie the Flu was easier for me than many others.
I know about 50 people who’ve had it and recovered. Three of those, all over 65, had to go to the hospital; but were out in 5 days or less. So my circle has not been as hard hit as others.
What would I have told myself? Read Psalm 16, Psalm 23, and Psalm 91 every day.
Thank you for sharing those Biblical passages, John.
Scott forgot to mention the pandemic movies with bodies lining the streets and being buried in mass graves that we were all primed for.
I never willingly wore a mask this past year after the first month or so. Then I only wore it when asked to by a business owner, because my state’s governor’s edicts forbade local governments from imposing fines or criminal charges for individuals not wearing masks, but allowed them to impose fines on business owners. In my county the fine against a business owner was up to $3000 per customer not wearing a mask.
I only ever heard of fines being imposed once, on a couple of bars.
Typical nasty progressive shift the blame. Don’t punish the perpetrator (maskless rebels.) Punish the store owners who refuse to do the state’s dirty work for them.
Considering all that’s gone on this year, Bill, have you considered getting Russian citizenship rather than her getting American citizenship?
can’t be any worse HUH?
The story about the 90 year old man and how he was essentially locked away from those who cared for him pisses me off so much. I also lost a family friend in his 90’s this year, not from Covid-19 but from old age. We were blessed with the fact that he didn’t go to a hospital during all of this so we could actually go see him before he passed away. What we have done to so many people during this past year is tragic beyond belief.
I have relatives who I suspect still haven’t held their grandbaby born a year ago out of fear. Then one of the couple had to go into a memory care facility. I don’t know if she will ever get to hold her grandbaby and know it’s her grandbaby.
I have a friend whose children were so paranoid over the rona they wouldn’t let her see her grandkids for months.
They would drive by and let her catch a glimpse or drop off her Christmas present.
By the time the vax came out she couldn’t wait to get it. Not because she wanted to get it, but because she felt it was the only way she’d EVER get to touch/hold/visit her grandkids. It tore her apart.
Her children were the the kind you see driving a car by themselves, wearing two masks, and with the windows up. Had their little kids in masks too.
I had to train my daughter that it was okay for me to deliver groceries and visit with her and my grandchildren… in the weeks after she gave birth… and hold my youngest who just turned 1… I am there 2 or 3 times a week … I decided that I am not asking permission for any of it… visited my osteo and acupuncturist every week… shopped… hosted 2 small concerts in my garden and one wedding last week… and every Friday my husband and I go to dinner at my 85 year old mother in law’s home with various brothers in law… and she goes by herself to the health fund and to the market weekly… probably maskless… but I am glad that now she is vaccinated….
So happy to hear positive stories. 🙂