Our Covid-19 Battle

My life started to change dramatically around the beginning of March 2020. On 3/1/20 my state (Virginia) had 100 cases of the dreaded virus and by 3/15/20 it was almost 1,000. Today (4/23/20) it stands at 11,000 cases with 372 deaths. Unfortunately, only 64,518 of my fellow Virginians have been tested. We know that we have to do better, but our leaders are falling short due to lack of foresight and organization.

I place most of the blame on President Trump. I watch his news conferences every day and he is incapable of taking off his “Politician Hat†and putting on the one that says, “We’re all in this together (WAITT)†cap. We are in desperate need of someone to organize our overwhelming fight against this deadly enemy.

President Trump appointed his VP (Mike Pence) to be the czar of the COVID-19 pandemic for our country, but he refuses to let the man do his job without his interference. And Pence seems so overwhelmed by President Trump’s power that he only partially exercises the powers given to him by the president. Any speech given to the public by VP Pence will allude to his boss so many times it makes him seem like a waste of good talent.

Although, I am not a Pence fan, I believe that if the Senate had removed Trump from his office and Pence was the president, we would be much farther along in conquering this repugnant COVID-19 virus. Pence, to me, seems more rational, more organized, and better equipped to handle a problem of this magnitude. But we have what we have, and right now we have to depend on Donald Trump to, somehow, get us through this pandemic.

I recall that during the Obama Administration, they had a lot of trouble with “Obama Care†when it first rolled out. The President immediately called in the most talented people from all corners of our nation to rectify the problem. Within a month, things started working as they should. That is what we need now! Trump needs to let Pence do his job and lend a hand when it is needed.

Some of our states have decided the war is almost over and have begun letting people forego the “Stay Home†edict, venturing out to shop and return to work. Only time will tell if this is a good plan, but I suspect it will be disastrous.

I think we should treat this situation as if there is a sniper in our neighborhood, hiding in a tree with a rifle that will hit a bullseye at 1 mile. We do not know if he is looking at us, but we know he is looking and waiting for someone, anyone, to come outside. He does not care who it is, he just wants to shoot someone.

Now, give me a minute to think about this: If I stay inside, I may run out of the things I need to maintain life. My money may run out and my house payment/rent is due and cannot be paid, the electricity will surely be switched off and I will be sitting in the dark with no food and water. Do I want to go outside, or shall I stay inside? Hmmm, not a hard choice for me to make. If that sniper finds me, then I become gravely wounded or dead. Why not wait until the police come to my aid (a scientist with a vaccine) and eliminate the sniper?

Fortunately for me, I was not in the Vietnam war, but my neighbor was, and he told me he was terrified every day of being sent into the bush looking for the enemy and being killed by a sniper. That boys and girls is real fear! He was there for one year. I asked him how he made it for all those days terrified. He responded that one day he dropped to his knees and prayed to God to give him courage, his prayer was answered, and his fear stopped. Maybe that is what we all need to do, pray to our God to give us the strength to do whatever is necessary to make it through this crisis.

A.G. Sertillanges said, “Courage is sustained by calling up anew the vision of the goalâ€. In addition to prayer, I think that is what we need to do now.