I get the TBT on Wednesdays and Sundays but it’s the Sunday
edition that gets to me more than the Wednesday edition, or any of the other
daily online editions. By that I mean, Sunday has always been a day to relax
and do “whatever”, right? That’s the mental
conditioning of having to work and worry for the six prior days for some 40 years
or so and thus, when Sunday comes around, it’s time to be still and not worry
about what’ll start all over again in the morning. Yes, you’re right. I haven’t
held an 8-to-5 job in decades, so what’s going on?
For me, waking up, walking down to the gate to get the paper,
having my first cup of coffee, and easing into my favorite chair, my mind automatically
shirks any thought of tribulations the coming week may bring. I’m relaxed and
ready to absorb my Sunday edition clearly and with open acceptance of what news
it will offer about the world that day.
My thought for today is this, how is it that so many matters
that were once considered proper guidance for becoming a morally good and
healthy human are now, not. Personal behavioral guides that were widely
instilled by churches, the Boy and Girl Scouts, grade and high school teachers
and educators in general, civic clubs, doctors, parents and guardians, lawyers,
public officials, sports and other celebrities and many others, are now considered
to be … wrong. What happened?
Example, vaccines. Most people in this country of maybe 60
and older will remember the wave of certain diseases that spread universal fear
because of what they could do to the human body. To name a few: German measles,
polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, mumps, hepatitis B, chicken pox. There are more.
If you’re 60 or older, there’s a 99% probability you either
had, or knew someone who had, one or more of these diseases. And equally percentagewise,
you were likely vaccinated to keep you from contracting many of these diseases and
thus were proactively protected. There are people I know personally today, as
you might, who are still alive and who have carried the impact of one of those
diseases their entire lives, not because the vaccine didn’t work but because not
everyone got them in time.
Younger folks just do not have the same confidence in
vaccines because they have not lived, perhaps with the exception of covid-19,
to see and experience the horror that’s possible when the values of vaccines
are doubted. So, why are they doubted today? I believe it’s because the
responsible public officials want us to focus on possible side effects rather
than the enormous amount of greater suffering that is caused by avoiding
vaccines altogether. It is a tragedy in the making, and so unwise.
Another example of a good “thing” that has been turned on
its head, is this thought that a government that helps people who need help is automatically
relegated to the likes of an anti-capitalist regime on a par with socialism and
communism. Simply put, it is not socialism for a rich and vibrant country to lend
a hand to its most needy. It is the right thing to do. Giving to a charity by
an individual to help people in need is not communism nor socialism, it is
doing the right thing. A functional health care system that will not bankrupt
your family if you get sick and assuring the old do not have to want in their
last years is not socialism. The fact that it comes from a government of the
people, for the people, and by the people, could not be a more responsible and
right thing to do.
By the same token, those who are not legitimately needy
should certainly not be given enormous tax breaks and government handouts
because they make huge donations to the coffers of certain elected party officials.
You’ve been reading about this. The moral disparity of what’s happening
in Congress as I write this is mind blowing.
Yet another example of “good” no longer thought to be so, is
the concept that no one should be disproportionately prevented from being able
to participate in the American Dream without undue governmental interference.
These are the rights and protections afforded by the American Constitution, to wit:
freedom of speech, religion, a free press, assembly, the right to petition our
government, to bear arms, protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, the
right to due process, a fair trial, and protection from cruel and unusual
punishment.
It would seem, as it used to be, that somewhere in all those
“basic rights” is the right to be informed, educated, and aware of social
injustices, including those related to race, gender, and environmental justice,
and the commensurate right to be able to address and rectify any such
injustices through activism and policy changes.
But today, sigh, such ideas are considered “Woke” and
unamerican. How did we get to such a place as this where diversity is
undesirable and equality and inclusion are available only for some? What has happened
to all the moral goodness I was brought up to believe was America?
Thoughts from the periphery
Sandspur
