It is not much of a secret that I’m a conservative and not crazy about how the government has handled the COVID mess. As a small business owner I constantly find myself in a moral argument inside my head comparing the safety of the few people to whom the virus is truly dangerous versus the millions who’s personal freedoms have been taken away. I have watched a number of small businesses fold due to our government’s decisions and while, thank God, we are still in business there are certainly no promises for the future.
In any case, while one of these discussions was bouncing around in my relatively empty head I thought… “Hmmmm, I wonder how this would have been handled 50 years ago without all the new technology?” Think about it.
With no cell phones, smart phones, texting and Facetiming it would have been extremely difficult to stay in touch with friends, family and business associates without having personal contact. Not to mention all the communications handled in billions of emails sent every day.
Back then a Zoom Meeting was what happened when two kids were playing and ran into each other. There was no such thing as opening your laptop, being sure you didn’t have hair sticking up or something awful hanging from your face and then chatting with a friend or business associate like you were in the same room even when miles apart. If you needed to have an in depth conference you had to do it face-to-face.
As for school… the only thing that made kids want to go back to school in the fall was how much they missed their friends over the summer when classes were out. It might never be known how much schools being closed has hurt the education of our children and harmed their psychological well being. Kids need in-person instruction for the best learning results and they need the socialization of school to learn to interact and communicate with other humans. It is an important part of becoming an adult and there is no telling the damage that has been done.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again… I don’t agree with many of the decisions that have been made but in this incredibly ugly mess I certainly don’t have the answers and am glad I was not in the hot seat to make the decisions. But, I am convinced of two things… the first thing is… I believe, overall more harm has likely come from all the closings and limitations than good. But, more importantly, because of the amazing resilience God built into us when we were created and the incredible spirit in us as Americans, together we will come out on the other side of all this mess just fine and maybe even a better, stronger country. God bless and protect each and every one of you and God Bless America.
