What has happened to the goodness I was brought up to believe was America?

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 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