Letters to the editor | Sunday, March 29, 2020: Trying times can bring out the best in people

Trying times also bring out the best

My shopping report: (my wish for hoarders is that they are chased in their dreams by scary abominable toilet paper monsters the size of that huge dude from the “Frozen” movie).

I had a great laugh with another couple as we arrived simultaneously at the meat counter to discover that there was only one item left. It was a chuck roast nearly 3 feet long and the circumference of a basketball. His wife laughed at us as we rolled it over to see if it was from a triceratops.

As I got to second in line with my seven items, the checkout clerk said that I could only take two cans of vegetables. My response: The two cans of green beans were vegetables and the two cans of diced tomatoes were actually future spaghetti sauce. Before the clerk could laugh, the woman ahead of me said, “I’ll take two of those,” so I slid her my green beans.

As she started to leave, I said, “You forgot your green beans.” She smiled and told me, “They are for you.” I smiled. The clerk smiled. The family next in line smiled.

May God bless that woman. In the trying times you can see the best in people!

Teaching children self-reliance

This is for all parents who have children at home. This is a perfect time to teach them to be self-reliant.

Teach them to cook. Start with a hard boiled egg. They can make dinner tonight. Scrambled eggs and toast, it will be the best you’ve ever tasted. Make a pot of stew with leftovers. Kids will see that you add a can or pack of frozen veggies to the pot. If you have fresh, teach them to chop those vegetables.

Sew on a button, and learn to stitch without matching thread. In the time of crisis you maybe won’t find sea-green or mauve or off-white colors. After all, this is a crisis.

Show them how to air their bike tires, change windshield wipers, check the oil and fluids in the family car. Show them there are different brushes and sponges for the toilets, bathroom tubs and kitchen sinks. If your daughter or son has finished mowing, ask a disabled or senior neighbor if they want their lawn moved. Do this without expectation of reward.

Showing your kids self-reliance will carry them through life and prepare them for the next crisis that comes their way, and guaranteed, it will come.

How are they communicating?

Did anyone offer to include any of the local superintendents before having the county doctor offer up her opinion?

Connect with children’s teachers

Many parents are coming to the realization that educating their children in the home is difficult. This is more so for parents who have a child with a disability. Often, supportive services are offered to children so that they can access the classroom setting. However, with the dangerous spread of COVID-19 and the closure of schools, all are required to adjust.

I hope parents reach out to their children’s teachers and service providers and seek tips on how to support their child in the home setting. I am glad that we live in a time when we can connect through technology to receive support while we shelter in place. Many students with disabilities have preexisting conditions that make them susceptible to COVID-19. The closure of schools puts the children’s safety first.

I know that schools and parents will be able to work together to support all children during this crisis. As a concerned father, I know that it is my own efforts in the home that will support my children’s learning. It is up to me to utilize the resources readily available for me and my children.

Reading opens many windows

Recently, a survey was done that showed that the thing thought most essential in life was to have a fulfilling career. Also recently, I have come to the realization that for me, helping people, especially children, to read is my fulfillment.

To me, reading is the most beneficial thing in life. It helps give a sense of identity, helps one communicate with others, and helps one travel throughout the universe, if only in your mind.

I recommend that you read as much as possible. If you have children or grandchildren, or even if they are still in the womb, read to them, or have them read to you, as much as possible. Our children are our future; who knows what they can become and accomplish?

Never let them see you cry

The crises affecting us today are huge. We are all feeling the stress. As a small business owner, I am faced with the realities of the economic environment, being one of the businesses forced to close despite having to pay rent, insurance, and utilities.

We are all going to have our moments of self-indulgence filled with fear, doubt, or worry. Maybe we will have moments where all we can do is cry. Let us have these moments in private. Go ahead, get it out. It can be very cathartic, but do it in private. Right now, 357 million Americans need us to be positive, pro-active and not dramatic. This is the biggest effect each one of us can have in this, our moment in history.

Virus pales next to climate change

If we are, as Trump says, in a war with the coronavirus, the meaning of war should be changed. Congress must declare war. When FDR came to the U.S. Congress after Pearl Harbor, he said that a state of war existed. Congress had to declare war then and needs to do so now. Everyone should experience fear now since we are at odds also with greed and its associated disease — a collapsing world ecosystem.

A wartime zeal should be maintained if we are to tackle the much more ominous climate change. Sadly, the commitment to deal with our CO2 emissions will require more determination and hard changes in lifestyle. We as a species will live through the pandemic, however we must decide if there is to be a future to live in. If we start the economy again it should not be dependent or based on fossil fuel.

Social distance won’t stop warming

I have noticed an inconsistency in our federal government’s actions recently. Leaders currently call on scientists and reference “what the science is telling us” before implementing policy and advising citizens in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. However, many of our leaders have been ignoring science and disparaging scientists regarding another unfolding disaster: climate change.

Scientific data, and the vast majority of experts whose lifework is to interpret it, are showing that Earth’s slow but gradual heating will continue to be insidiously consequential for people’s health and the world’s economy. Climate change is an ongoing problem promising to affect every human and every other life form. Science tells us that significant, proactive steps on the part of government, business, and the populace must be taken in the coming few years to avoid a catastrophe lasting generations, one that may become uncontrollable.

Social distancing, staying at home, vaccinations will not prevent Earth’s inexorable warming and its quite dire ramifications. My hope is that once nations bring coronavirus under control, governments and citizens worldwide will direct their earnest attention to the climate crisis. It is something multitudes of knowledgeable, dedicated scientists have been warning us we must do.

Surviving the current presidency

It will take more than the coronavirus to knock out Americans. We will be battered, bloodied, but not bowed as our DNA provides us strength to overcome this setback. We have survived wars, economic depressions, epidemics, and attacks on our citizens and structures. We were fortunate to have strong moral presidents leading our nation. We picked ourselves up, dusted off our pants and got back to work. That is what America does.

Sadly, under Trump we are virtually leaderless. In place of leadership we have a president who believes what Sean Hannity at Fox calls facts: “The coronavirus is nothing but a cheap hoax by socialists to overthrow Trump.” Instead of truth,Trump feeds these Fox-tales daily to Americans.

Think how prepared our country would have been if Trump had listened to the varied knowledgeable doctors and scientists. A plan of action saving countless lives could have been implemented. We would have been prepared. Instead, a monotone, zombie-like Trump mutters mass messages of confusion and contradictions, creating dread, confusion, anxiety, and fear to shell-shocked Americans.

Despite Trump’s tragic, gross dereliction of duty, we will survive.

It’s getting bad out there

He was asked how he learned the severity of the virus. He answered, “The news.” He blames the Chinese for not being truthful. His intelligence agencies in January and February told him how bad it could get.. He must have ignored it.

The White House briefing, consists of a question and a possible five-second answer, followed by five minutes of self-congratulation by the president. He rarely misses a chance to insult reporters doing their jobs. He only declared a national emergency on March 13. Earlier, he wanted cruise ship people to stay on ship to keep virus numbers down.

The people working in the hospitals are our defense, and major shortages are already showing up. Personal protective equipment already is running out, making infection more likely. Are Cal OSHA regulations being followed?

Tests are lacking to meet demand, and results take days. Medical equipment is lacking for a pandemic, and resupply is doubtful. Medical housing is lacking. Congress is deciding.

Is it still a hoax, Mr. President?