I know we rely on social and mass media to inform us, but somehow the warnings back in March to not repeat 1918 haven’t worked. I’ve been holding off on expressing this lately, but now is the time to tackle the running back with the ball, before more blood is shed:
- How we can unite to live in a world with COVID-19.
- Why we need to pay attention to the protests in Portland from a constitutional point of view.
- What would my mother do if she were still teaching at Charleroi Elementary Center?
- How to communicate effectively to enact a game plan.
I guess one of the first things you learn when providing critical communications–>the general public needs some sort of overview. The human mind can only handle so much. The human brain living in an instant gratification world can only handle half of the old normal brain. So when you don’t reach out and start crafting a story that provides an overview, then provide the details of how we are going to try and stick to our plan, all the while providing updates using real data you end up with the United States of America NOW. Of course that is the scientific and logical approach to use, however el Presidente has been doing his best impression of David Copperfield and President Frank Underwood when it comes to national communications to battle Covid-19. If you don’t see it, is it really there?
Just like 1918 had no defined federal response due to a World War, 2020 is the best of what happens when the federal government is deliberately disorganized and unaccepting of the truths presented by the career medical experts. I’ve included some easy reading for you that presents the 1918 Pittsburgh.
https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/3959/3776
Imagine Mayor Babcock pulling a Donaldo Trump stating that the health expert was locking down the city for political purpose.
If reading isn’t your thing, here is something to listen to and tell me it doesn’t sound like what is going on today. Imagine a health care system without an ICU or the life support to give you a chance to fight off an airborne pathogen.
Now that thing about war time? While Wilson was in WWI, Trump really isn’t in a war, except against his biggest supporters. By telling his followers not to follow the CDC he truly is subjecting them to an undue level of exposure to Covid-19. His illusion of creating a war in American cities against people using the 1st Amendment and adding fuel to each protest by bringing in federal police, waiting for any violence, then saying that the federal government is in the middle of a war on protesters in American cities, led by the Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf would probably be a great topic for the Political Science Department at St. Vincent College. I believe Dr. George Bauroth would be rolling over to think that a Republican President would use a loophole in the rule of law to the current extent. You may note that DHS has been run by an acting secretary who hasn’t been confirmed for over a year and Wolf’s predecessor also was only an acting head. The Constitution requires confirmation of Cabinet officials, why hasn’t’ this happened? Hello 25th Amendment. Oh wait if none of the Cabinet is confirmed I guess that could be a problem. If you haven’t binge watched “House of Cards” now may be the time so you at least get an idea of what we will be seeing over the next 99 days of Covid-19. Thinking back to Dr. Bauroth, I wonder what his thoughts would be on all of the political pork that was stuffed into the first two stimulus bills by the Senate.
In the what would Marguerite Pankiewicz (Caruso) do if she was still a teacher in the Charleroi Elementary during Covid-19 column? This has been a topic of discussion for my house. If it was close to her retirement time, she’d definitely take retirement to avoid the potential for being exposed. She likely would have struggled with teaching on iPads or PC’s, let alone pull me in to be her private tech support. She also would have been delivering meal packs to all of her students that she knew didn’t have a reliable source of nutrition. However, if it were during her younger North Charleroi days, she likely would have volunteered to be the in-person teacher so most of the older or higher risk teachers could stay at home. The real tragedy is how we fund schools but ask them to hit certain standards. Without some uniform connectivity, hardware, software and a general interest in everybody to think outside the box most school districts can’t make virtual school work effectively. Most of our schools were designed to make our general public average. If only we could ask how we can be better than average. It was teacher’s like my mother who could push her students to find their push to do better, live kinder and love one another.
If I were in the WHITE HOUSE and a Pandemic was approaching during Christmas 2019, what would I do?
- Create a web page that said here’s what my gut is telling me, but then provide source material so my fellow Americans with a brain could start formulating their own personal story.
- We are about to see a pandemic that none of us who can remember have ever lived through in this country.
- This is going to be a 26.2 mile marathon. We need to mentally be prepared for all the hills, bridges, turns, potential bombs, lack of gel, missing Gatorade stops along the path and remember that the finish line will be somewhere way out there.
- Don’t go all out in the beginning and think you can coast to the end. Your muscles, like this virus will have a mind of it’s own and shut down whenever they feel that you are forgetting about them.
- Each mile of the marathon will be just over one month long, so read up on the 1918 Spanish Flu and the mistakes that various cities made since President Wilson did not step up to the pandemic during WWI.
- Science and Medicine is just beginning to understand Covid-19. The guidance will change as our information gathering and data analysis improves.
- Don’t be afraid of the virus. Don’t be afraid of each other. Embrace the tech that we have today that will allow us to stay together even if we can’t touch each other.
- Get outside in nature. See otters, eagles, fish, birds, rivers, mountains and lakes. Don’t forget your sunscreen (we’re going to get through this, so you don’t want to die from skin cancer.)
- Meditate, breathe and project those things in life that you are grateful for each day.
- Be ready to embrace change as that will be the most important tool in our collective tool belts to get through this together.
- Please research on your own and don’t let the search engines fool you, I’m not a gaslighter.
For the record all of the above haven’t changed, I’m thinking we may have only hit mile 3. Love one another, say hello, wave, remind each other we are all human.
With Peace and Love.
