At the debate on Thursday, the incumbent said we are learning to live with Covid-19. Biden said we are learning to die with Covid-19. As much as it pains me, they are both right.
People are going to Disney World and other vacation spots. People are having large gatherings for birthdays and weddings. People are attending rallies. People are also testing positive at higher rates, breaking positive records the last few days. People are being admitted to the hospital in many parts of the country to the point hospitals are full. And yes, people are dying at higher rates the past few days as well, as we enter the never ending first wave that just keeps swelling higher and higher between the swells.
Luckily, many people are wearing masks and still practicing social distancing. Personally, I take heart when I go out and see families, including those of elementary age, wearing their masks, helping keep us all safer. I don’t know anyone who enjoys wearing the mask, but I find it a small sacrifice to help keep my family and friends well.
Unfortunately, on the flip side, there are many people who technically wear a mask, but they wear it around their chin or only over their mouths. Unfortunately as well, businesses refuse to enforce the mask mandates they have chosen to mandate, or the mandate of the locality or state. Who can blame them really though, with some people having major temper tantrums to rival any two-year-old, when asked to either put on a mask or to leave.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are learning to live, and to die, with Covid-19. The millions who have tested positive, and the hundreds of thousands who have died, have become a statistic to the public at large, even as families cope with having it, or mourn those they have lost.
Many months ago, I wrote about an article I had read predicting this would happen, and we should prepare for its inevitability. One death is a tragedy, thousands are a statistic. Sadly we seem to have reached that point.
As the incumbent and Biden said, we are learning to live with it, and we are also learning to die with it.
I wonder how it will ultimately end. If the incumbent wins, we will have to continue to live with both. If Biden wins, we will still have to learn to live with both, but I truly believe it will be for a shorter period of time. It will be more humane, more civil, and more empathetic plan than what we have now.
Vote early or in person. Make your plan and follow your plan. Vote blue up and down the ticket. Let’s change our trajectory for the better. Biden will put us on that path, but only if we help him get the opportunity.
Please vote.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 