What has happened to us?

It was within my lifetime that we were, at least temporarily, a unified country. When New York’s Twin Towers were attacked, while we reeled with accepting with the reality that someone could actual pull the trigger on such a heinous act, we all put our differences aside and we were all Americans.

These days, the only thing all Americans have in common is our differences.

Having two sides to simple issues like wearing a face mask is borderline insanity, yet we’re really just warming up. In a poll released this week, only 42% said they would want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, once we have a vaccine. So, after we test and come up with a solution to this virus, we’ll move on from “Mask versus No Mask” to “Vaccine or No Vaccine.”

And on it will go.

I hope to stick around a couple of decades so I can hear the questions I expect when people look back on this time, including, “What the hell were you guys thinking?”  Well, I can answer that now–we weren’t thinking. The American society has de-evolved into a non-thinking nation of sheep, who pick a side and then, instead of processing information, they know how to feel and embrace what “their side” believes on the topic.

I love how the millionaires in Washington, D.C. are saying that our kids HAVE to go back to school this fall. Why? To get things “back to normal” and so their parents can go back to work to return the economy to glory. A quick reminder that the people leading the charge on sending the kids to school either a) Are too old to have school aged kids or b) Make enough on their government salaries (that you’re paying) that they send their kids to private schools.

“Returning to normal” has real consequences. See California, Texas and Florida for details. World-wide, 700,000 people have already died from coronavirus. But as you would expect, we have two sides to that. One says that those statistics are true. And if you don’t believe that, you’ve got a handy collection of catchy phrases to throw out there. “Oh, not all those were COVID” or, “Well, yeah, but a lot more recovered than died!” Absolutely true, but also meaningless to those who lost a parent, a family member or a friend to coronavirus.

I have one friend whose wife spent 37 days in the hospital, including several weeks on a ventilator, and she recovered. I have a cousin in Yakima whose nursing home had a breakout, she caught it, but has since recovered. So there are two of the people who didn’t lose their life and that some will hold up and say, “See, it’s not that bad.”

It all depends on which side you’re on.

I like being on the side that wants to avoid catching the disease entirely. Sure, that means I could be over-cautious, but I’m willing to take that risk. It seems like a small price to pay. Years from now, you might want to point at pictures of me wearing a mask and say, “Boy, you were so stupid.”  In fact, I hope that happens, because the alternative–the B to that side A—is that I’m saying, “Gee, I still don’t get why didn’t roll with common sense. I miss them.”

If you can just remove the politics from your life for even just a moment, you might find that there’s a much better way to live out there. We only get so much time on this rock. Yes, you do have the God-given right to not wear a mask. To that end, no one is forcing you to get an annual physical, brush your teeth or eat healthier. Now, those are all things that will help keep you healthier and promote sticking around for a longer time, but they’re certainly not required. Our U.S. constitution protects your right to be ignorant.

Listen to your brain. It’s trying to talk to you.

Tim Hunter