vigilance

 I don't watch a lot of movies. One of my favorites however is Gladiator. In one scene the Emperors' sister says, the crowd is fickle brother, he will be forgotten in a week. Or something close to that anyway. Listening to the news these days and I can certainly see truth in that statement, even today, the crowd is indeed a fickle bunch. Who remembers the crisis, the big concern that was going to be the end of everything a month ago, two months ago, or last year? Now there are many of us that if we give it some thought can recall specific issues and incidences. Mostly just the ones we were opposed to. and I include myself in that assessment. Remember when taking a knee and removing statues was going to cause a civil war? Remember assault rifles? What of the caravan of people streaming into the country from the south? The war on drugs. Do you hear those things mentioned today? No, not so much right. This virus is the hot button item, it will kill us all! 

 Now I'm not saying every measure we are taking isn't justified. I'm not downplaying the seriousness of the situation. It's definitely a scary time. Shelter in place was a phrase we heard when there was a threat from some mad gunman. This gunman is invisible and we are forced to seek isolation from it. I am saying this too will pass. We will get through it. I have concerns, like everyone else. What about the homeless people? What is being done to mitigate their situation? I have my doubts that they are isolating themselves. I have doubts about their overall health. Given the necessity for social distancing aren't their sources of food and revenue drying up? I haven't heard anything about that at all. I did hear some Governors are going to release prisoners, the ones that didn't do anything that bad, to avoid spreading the virus in the prisons. In Baltimore the Police are being instructed to not enforce certain laws. They are being told to avoid contact with people as much as possible. Can it be long before Martial Law is instituted, the national guard called out to maintain the peace.

 This will pass. The crowd is fickle and this too will be forgotten. There will something else to distract us all. The disruption to our everyday lives is unsettling, and unprecedented in modern times. At least I can't recall anything close to this response. I have a vague memory of receiving the small pox vaccine on a sugar cube. There was a line of people when it was made available. But there was no panic, no social distancing, indeed no rules at all from the government prior to that. The only unsetting thing was when we were told to come get your vaccine! That is when people became concerned. Now I was quite young then and so don't recall the social attitudes of the day. I don't know what was being reported on the news. A few years later I remember practicing in case of being bombed! We were taught to hide under the desk at school, if you were outside get on your knees, put your face to the ground and your hands on your head. The fetal position, only upright. We were taught to look for those Civil Defense signs on buildings. Memorize were they were so you could scramble inside at any moment. At some time, for some unknown reason, all that stopped. Now those Civil Defense signs on buildings are nothing more than a reminder of the past, a curiously. 

 And so I will do my part. Stay inside as much as possible, practice social distancing. and pray for all those effected. This is a scary time indeed. I do have grave concerns for our society going forward. The economic impact is going to be severe. Legislation passed today with the very best of intentions can remain long after the crisis is passed. Freedom once eroded can be difficult to rebuild. We need to be vigilant in protecting that.