Wartime President Trump Signals Surrender to COVID-19

The third world war is in progress with all nations aligned against a common enemy, COVID-19, also known the novel coronavirus. The attack from this viral enemy from another world was swift and started in China and quickly spread around the globe. It appears COVID-19 may have come for the animal kingdom and made the jump to humans who had no immunity, vaccination or therapeutic treatments to battle the respiratory disease. With an infection and mortality rate higher than influenza it appeared the best way to battle the spread of the novel coronavirus was to keep people separated from each other, so nation after nation reluctantly instituted policies that effectively shut down their economies to slow the infection rated of COVID-19. Individuals were ordered to stay at home and most business closed down to fight the march of COVID-19.

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The novel coronavirus came to the United States on a flight with a United States citizen who had visited relatives in China. Despite alerts that COVID-19 was coming; President Trump seemed to blow it off and called it a Democratic hoax, said it would go away or not be that bad. While the President was the denier in chief other nations like Italy and Spain were crippled by COVID-19 with infections and deaths mounting while their healthcare systems were overwhelmed. As the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic, Trump reluctantly imposed social distancing restrictions that largely shut down many businesses across the nation, but he did not impose a national stay at home order to keep people apart so governors and local official across the country did so on their own. The United States ended up with a patchwork of regulations in some areas and no regulations in other areas to keep people away from each other. The stock market crashed. Medical professionals indicted the worst was yet to come and due to the late start the United States got in fighting the virus the peak of infections was not known. Trump stated he saw himself as a wartime President, but this enemy has no soul, no political agenda and can’t be spun with political rhetoric or deceived with lies.  

After what seemed like less than two weeks of war against COVID-13 with pleas for medial masks, ventilators and more hospital beds than could be mustered, Trump appeared to be weary of the battle. The novel coronavirus had an ally in the failing economy that worked on Trump’s psyche and possibly generated visions of his reelection slipping away. Against the advice of almost every scientist and medical professional around, President Trump began talking about reopening the United States for business within a few weeks by saying the cure could be worse than the disease, in short, Trump was signaling surrender. POTUS Donald J Trump alarmed many by stating he may be willing to sacrifice and untold number of soldiers on the battlefield to get the economy running again. Let us not forget that we, all American residents, are the solders that will be put in the line of fire. We don’t fight COVID-19 with a shiny new gun, but by staying away from it and starving it of a fresh host to spread it to someone else. If Trump reopens business prematurely it will be a tragic trade-off of lives for commerce and one of the most tragic chapters in the history of the United States.

Why Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Disappearance Frightens Us All

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 exposed to the world the limits of man, with all of his advanced technology, to be in control of his destiny. The very reality that a large, technologically advanced and electronic communications laden aircraft could seemingly vanish from the face of the earth is sobering.  Many of us probably assumed that pilots were in constant contact with air traffic control or some automated tracking system was on at all times that could not be deactivated by someone on board, but it seems that is not true. In a world build around getting instant answers, it’s a shock for people to discover we don’t have it all under control.

Men have walked on the surface of the moon. We have rovers on the surface of the planet of Mars and we have a craft that has left the solar system and is headed into the far reaches of space. We have technology that allows us to capture billions of cell phone calls and internet searches, but there are blank spots on this planet where we are blind.

The safety of any jetliner with hundreds of passengers on board is in the hands of the pilots and it is now obvious that in some parts of the world that is truer than others. We want to know what happened now and sit in shock to find out we can’t know instantly because of our human limitations. The general public is always shocked to discover the reality of our limited knowledge and reach here on earth.

We still have to depend on the goodwill, skills and sound minds of those in control when we become a passenger of any type. This reminds us that what we have come to view as routine is not routine, when we board that train, ship or airplane we have truly placed our lives into the hands of people we don’t know. We often forget the risks involved when our technology enables man to do what is not natural to him such as traveling at high speeds on land, sailing across the surface of the ocean or flying across the sky. Those things are not inherently natural to us, but have become safe and accepted practice, so it unnerves us when we see something like Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappear without a trace. We don’t like to be reminded of our human frailties. Please, say a prayer for the missing and their loved ones.