Guest view: Covid-19 isn’t what’s really going to take down this country

By STEVE PETERSON | Kendall

Editor’s note: Steve Peterson penned this Facebook post in mid-April.

Wow … I had many thoughts as I put my bulletproof vest on for this post. All I can say is that it’s all true, but I know that the shots will come, but maybe the vest will hold up. LOL

This situation we are in is something none of us could have imagined. But how we’re handling it shows a lot about what’s really going to take us down as a country, and it won’t be Covid-19. Yes, it’s horrendous and to hear the number of deaths is sickening.

Regardless of the things we’ve done to preserve our safety, we’ve seen over the past few weeks what our country is really all about, and we need a wake-up call on many fronts!

We’ve seen in the past weeks what socialism would have been like. Both sides of the aisle (even behind their closed doors) know that government telling us what we can and can’t do, facing empty store shelves and people losing their jobs is a doomsday for a country and not an election-winning move.

We’ve seen in the past weeks, that we can take a pandemic and turn it into a selfish, political s*** show where both sides blame each other while blatantly showing greed, corruption and contempt on needed relief packages for Americans.

We’ve seen in the past weeks, shutdown rules for some, some not for others. I’m still trying to figure out that whole “essential” thing! Some even have struggles with social distancing and the do I or not wear a mask?

We’ve seen in the past weeks, local stores closing down, but the big-box stores can stay open for the things we need, but they also can sell products that small businesses could have offered, but they were forced to close.

We’ve seen in the past weeks, our farmers getting the short end of the stick again, dumping milk because no one tried to figure out a better solution. Why is there no milk on the shelves? How about milk for the needy? How about offering cheese curds in school kids’ meals? Local businesses put up money to make those things happen, not our government or any of their agencies. Probably needed a study, and then add more “pork” to a bill to make that happen!

We’ve seen in the past weeks, elections days/polls being volleyed back and forth by politicians while acting like they really cared for our health. Don’t we look good as a country when voters are standing in lines outside the poll stations carrying picket signs? Great look for America!

We’ve seen in the past weeks, when we should be growing together as a country to fight the enemy, like we did after 9/11, we can’t even do that anymore! I truly believe that there are factions in this country (and in the media I used to work in) that almost relish the state of our country right now and hope we have worse days ahead for their own hidden agendas! Is that our America now?

We’ve seen in the past weeks, that we as a country that put a man on the moon, now argue about treatments, medicines, dismissing science that works, lacking ventilators, equipment, etc. We’ve lived off the good life for so long that we forgot about pushing ourselves for better things and preparedness for all Americans.

We’ve seen in the past weeks, that we truly don’t respect the president’s office anymore. Long after Trump is gone, that lack of respect will stay, as it’ll just shift to the new president. No matter how you feel about the person (and none of us have liked all the presidents we’ve had before), we’ve allowed ourselves to say it’s OK to trash our president without ramifications. That is the new normal, and just think what our ancestors would think about that?

I pray that Covid-19 goes away now! But, we as a country, have a bigger disease to deal with.

We’ve got to figure out how to live together again. How to respect each other again. How to support each other again.

We’ve got to be social to each other again and not rely on social media to do that. It’s the complete opposite of being “social” and it’s causing this country’s downfall. It’s just full of hate and faceless attacks!

We’ve got to challenge ourselves to be better than the past and create a history that Americans in the future can be proud to learn about.

We’ve got to get back to working hard to leave a better life for our children/grandchildren.

We’ve got to get back to enjoying and respecting each other regardless of our thoughts and passions.

We’ve got to be proud of being an American again!

Man, this vest is getting hot!

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