What the heck is going on?
We’re panicking over the coronavirus, clearing supermarket shelves of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, hoarding them, and to hell with everyone else! Of course, if everyone else gets sick and dies because of our selfishness, we’re going to be pretty lonely.
Though we say coronavirus, we probably should say COVID-19, if that’s the politically correct term at the moment, but we definitely must not say Chinese corona virus or Wuhan virus, because that, we’re told, is racist – even though Wuhan, China is where this mysterious thing originated.
Is it, whatever it’s called, as serious a threat as we’re being told? How can we know? Some say it is. Some say it isn’t. Whom can we trust?
Are we on the verge of the Apocalypse, or are we just being subjected to the latest media-manufactured panic? Is it worse than the other flus that popped up in election years?
It’s hard to tell. The response of government officials is either alarming or reassuring, depending on your perspective. Bars and restaurants are shutting down, schools are being closed, major sports events are being canceled. Something strange is going on.
If for nothing else, former Obama chief of staff and subsequent Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is famous for having advised fellow Democrats never to let a crisis go to waste. He may not have had the best intentions when he said that, but, perhaps unwittingly, he offered good advice to kind-hearted people.
Viewed properly, every crisis is an opportunity.
The coronavirus is our opportunity to come together as a nation and solve the problems our elected leaders have long ignored.
Now is the time to support our leaders, to stop finger-pointing and playing ‘gotcha’ with one’s perceived political enemies at every opportunity. It is the time to show appreciation for the unsung heroes all across this country, the time – to borrow a phrase – to make America great again.
Let’s not let this crisis go to waste.