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My Point of View by John Forman

 

I read last week’s My Point of View column and sat down right away to counter their claims one by one, but then I thought about it and figured it would be a waste of time. Trump haters are not going to change no matter how you reason with them. Hate is a blinding emotion. A better use of this space and my time would be to thank the people who are working so hard to help people and save lives during this COVID-19 virus outbreak.

Of course we need to thank our medical workers and hospital staff, from doctors and nurses, to the nurses aides and maintenance staff. We cannot forget ambulance crews, police and fire personnel. We need to thank our nursing home workers — with the no-visitor policy they need to add a lot of emotional support to go along with medical, feeding and cleaning duties. A big thank you to all these people across the nation and at our local level. There are many others we need to thank who are working tirelessly to find new treatments, new data-gathering systems and work on finding a vaccine for the virus. We need to thank the people who are coordinating the government and private business partnership. They are working day and night coordinating the delivery of information and supplies for state and local government. They are coordinating the delivery of medical supplies to hospitals and medical centers as they are needed.

There are other groups helping with trucking and delivery of food and supplies and the grocery store workers who are stocking and selling food at the retail level.

We need to thank the funeral home staff — I cannot imagine the stress of helping families with burial plans while not being able to have regular group gatherings to help support the family through the death of a loved one. How can they handle the volume of burials needed in New York City or New Jersey?

We need to thank our religious leaders — they have to be  concerned with  the needs of their parishioners, consol the survivors and bury the dead. This virus shutdown has come during the most holy time of the year for most religions, adding even more pressure to tending the needs of their flock. They also have the problem of canceled services and the strain on budgets.

We need to thank the workers who work at jobs that have been declared essential. They keep the lights on and our city services running. They process our food and essential supplies. We need to thank farmers who are planting our food for the future, while facing today’s price declines. We need to thank the small business owners who are trying to keep their businesses afloat during this shutdown by working from home programs or by limited delivery or pick-up of their products. We need to remember to support our local businesses during this shutdown.

We need to thank the people who are following the stay-at-home order and maintaining social distancing rules. They are flattening the curve across the country. I am sure I have left some groups out, so I will end with a big thank you to everybody. Please continue to flatten the curve, and we all look forward to the day, sometime soon, when we can start opening our country up again.

John Forman is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.