Dear Editor:
We have a pandemic in this country but it is not Covid-19. The present virus crisis is only a symptom of the true pandemic. Our true pandemic is hatred and arrogant ignorance. Our citizens are spoiled and pampered. They do not seem to understand nor appreciate what it means to be part of American society and the great American experiment. Many of our citizens profess to love our country, yet they seem to have a hatred for the government and for many of their neighbors. Most of the people who complain about government excess and high taxes actually take more from the government than they ever have paid in taxes.
I know I can never repay our government for the good things afforded me and my family. Having been raised rather poor, I am thankful to the government of this great country for the safety, protection and opportunity I have been afforded. I submit all of us should be grateful. We should be embarrassed as to how we have reacted to the present viral crisis.
We are now confronted with a healthcare emergency. Healthcare pandemics and other emergencies have happened before. In response to past emergencies, Americans have banded together, masked up, rolled up their sleeves and done all that was necessary to stop the enemy. Not this time. Instead, many of our neighbors have chosen to listen to right-wing media pundits and evangelical preachers who would not even allow Jesus in church if he showed up to visit on a Sunday morning.
Imagine what World War II would have been like if our citizens had acted in 1941 the way they are acting now. Our response to the present viral enemy is a total disgrace. If we had acted like Americans from the beginning, the Covid-19 virus would have been eradicated months ago. Many dead would still be walking among us.
Rather than listen to medical experts and scientists, many of our neighbors refuse preventive vaccines and won’t even wear a face mask. They claim the masks are uncomfortable and an infringement of their liberty. These people even attack local school boards who are trying to keep our children safe.
Statistics show masks work. The numbers also show vaccines are safe and effective. Working together, we can kill this virus. If the lunacy continues, many thousands more will die.
To those who claim vaccines and masks mandate take away their liberty, I have one simple question: Did you pass 9th-grade Civics? Freedom does not mean we can do anything we choose any time we choose to do it. Liberty brings with it responsibility. Freedom is quite different from anarchy. Freedom does not mean we can do anything we want any time we want.
One of the prime rights and responsibilities of the government is to pass laws to keep us healthy and safe. Freedom does not give us the right to harm or endanger others.
Covid-19 is a “novel” virus. This means our immune systems do not quickly recognize Covid-19 and cannot fend the virus off rapidly. Thus, many die before their immune systems recognize the virus and react to it.
There are two different types of vaccine: 1. mRNA; and 2. Dead Viral Cell Injection. Both types of vaccines have worked in the past and both will work now if we just listen to the scientists and doctors and not listen to quacks.
Small children are now getting the Covid Delta Variant. Masks have been statistically proven to work to protect the little ones. Sending a child to school without a mask endangers the child but also endangers all of the other children. A parent may arguably have the right to unreasonably expose his child to danger but he surely does not have the right to endanger other children.
To those complaining about infringement of liberty by vaccine or mask mandates, please shut up and sit down. You embarrass yourself. Vaccines have been legislatively mandated for years. Children have to be vaccinated before they can go to school. We have eradicated polio, smallpox and many other viruses through the use of mandatory vaccination. We can eradicate Covid if we just will.
On June 6, 1944, American boys invaded Normandy to keep us safe. John Kennedy asked us “Ask not what our country can do for you. Rather, ask what you can do for our country”. We have never been asked to leave a landing craft in the face of machine gunfire. Is it too much to ask that we cooperate with our scientists and doctors; listen to the experts, and kill this horrible virus? It is time for all of us to stand up and act like the Americans we claim to be.
Respectfully submitted,
Edward Bear
3 Amistad Way
Prosperity, SC
