A Thanksgiving message to those of you who are alone today
The rest of you can read it, too, but you might not enjoy it…
OK, here’s the situation.
There’s a new disease going around and the federal government plays down the risks and stalls for time. The early advice from Washington, D.C. is not to panic, because it’s no big deal.
The lack of a federal response leaves cities and states on their own, making decisions for themselves. Many choose to put the economy above public health and put off social distancing. Because there’s no vaccine for the disease, progressive cities order people to wear masks in public, other cities do not. Some people refuse to wear masks and fight mask mandates, but cities that act early and forcefully have much lower peak death rates than cities that drag their feet.
Just in case you haven’t already guessed, we’re talking about the 1918 flu epidemic.
The above information came from two studies published in 2007 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which sounds really boring so maybe that’s why we didn’t learn anything from them. On the other hand, maybe we didn’t learn anything from them because some of us don’t want to follow advice that asks us to quit being short-sighted and selfish.
There are other reasons the 1918 flu pandemic lasted a couple years and came in four waves – like crowding people into trenches to fight WWI – but refusal to follow recommendations from health experts was part of the problem.
As you can see, there were lessons to be learned from 1918 and a bunch of us didn’t learn them.
The Greatest Generation had some mediocre members
I recently read a comment that the Greatest Generation – the people that ran into machine gun fire at Omaha Beach, beat Hitler and won WWII – would have no problem pulling together and wearing masks because they were better people than the generation of self-centered jerks we have today.
Hey, I’ve seen “Saving Private Ryan” and watched Tom Hanks die and had the same thought, so I figured I’d write something about it.
So I looked up WWII “blackouts” – turning off all the lights at night to avoid becoming a target – expecting to see that all those Greatest Generation Americans followed the blackout rules willingly.
Weeelll…turns out they had self-centered jerks back then, too.
German U-boats were hanging around the Atlantic coast sinking ships headed for Europe, so ships decided they’d sail at night and asked cities to turn off their lights so they wouldn’t be silhouetted and make things easier for the German subs trying to find them and sink them.
Some coastal cities didn’t want to and argued that turning off their lights would be bad for their economy. Americans were dying and people concerned about making a buck didn’t give a crap because doing the right thing would be bad for business.
Sound familiar?
Not a historian or economist, but I’m guessing losing the war might have been bad for business, too, but there have always been self-centered, short-sighted people and I’m guessing there always will be and this Thanksgiving proves my point.
Do as I say, etc.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sent out messages on social media asking people to avoid traveling for the holiday and then flew to Mississippi to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Here’s what Hancock had to say about it:
“I made my decision as a husband and father, and for those who are angry and disappointed, I humbly ask you to forgive decisions that are borne of my heart and not my head.”
Sounds good, but maybe we better start using our heads because our hearts can’t take it and our lungs don’t like it much either. A lot of us faced the same type of family-dilemma and made the right choice despite not being the mayor of Denver, although maybe one of us ought to be.
And you’re the people I’m writing for today.
I was going to take the day off and enjoy four straight days of binge-watching Yellowstone and football, but I know some of you are spending the holiday alone or with just your immediate family which (depending on your immediate family) can be worse than being alone, so if I entertained you for 15 minutes I’m happy to do so and express my appreciation for your sacrifice.
Also, you probably ought to take an Evelyn Woods speed-reading class because there’s just no way this should have taken 15 minutes to read.
After what I had to say about the 1918 pandemic and WWII blackouts, you might think I see no hope for humanity and we’re just a bunch of morons who keep making the same mistakes and some of us are. As philosopher George Santayana – the guy who missed forming a great rock band by two extra letters – once said:
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
But in my experience, ballplayers are way funnier than philosophers so I prefer this version of the same idea:
“Some guys have 10 years’ experience; other guys have one year’s experience 10 times.”
No idea what ballplayer said that, but it’s a keeper.
Anyway…
People can learn and change when they want to and we wouldn’t be drinking bottled water or four-dollar cups of coffee while we check email on our cell phones if that weren’t true.
We just need to get motivated and you’d think 262 thousand dead Americans might do the trick, but we tend to think bad stuff happens to everyone else right up until it happens to us and as we’ve seen, even then some of us still don’t learn the lesson.
Originally, I intended to write something negative about all the people who are ignoring reality and traveling and gathering when they shouldn’t – and believe I’ve met that goal – but then decided this is supposed to be a day of thanks.
Medical experts have said this winter is going to be awful and we need to change our behavior to limit the damage and I want to say thanks to those of you who learned from history and are part of that change.
You might be alone today, but you are not forgotten.
Right up until the Houston Texans play the Detroit Lions which kicks off at 11:30 Central Standard Time. (Hey, I’m trying to be a nice guy, but there are limits.)
Do your best to have a good day and remember that being alone on Thanksgiving might mean not having a family gathering at the local hospital for Christmas.
I'm thankful to be able to read and enjoy this column multiple times a week. I'm also grateful to have learned that there are other people who think and believe as do I. Thank you Lee for your work on this site and for continuing to be the voice of reason in a frequently unreasonable world.
Happy Thanksgiving, Lee!