THE NATIVES ARE GETTING RESTLESS

My inbox has been especially busy lately. I have received a lot of very interesting forwards. Some of my favorites are quotes and sayings from people in the past. I will start this column with a recent forward. 

“Soon, when all is well, you’re going to look back on this period of your life and be so glad that you never gave up.” Author unknown. How about that for a perceptive offering? I can’t find out who said it but it certainly rings true in these days and times. 

I am sure all of us, from time to time, consider the mess that we face and wonder when will it all end. Well, this I promise. It will end. And it will end soon. As a people, we have been tested. How have we done? Are we passing our test? How will we be when this is nothing but an ugly memory? 

I think we will all be better for the experience we have had. We will be stronger. Hopefully we will be better prepared for whatever comes next.

Things happen. I live on a small island just off the coast of southern Georgia. Just last week two tornados passed by us within less than ten miles. One went north of us and the other went south. We were not touched, this time, but this is all ending just in time for hurricane season. We have lived in many parts of this country and they all had their particular natural issues. We have lived through earthquakes, blizzards, tornados, and hurricanes. Now we are living through a pandemic. We will get to the other side and we will for a certainty be thankful that we made it to the other side.

Here’s another quote. “Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.” That delicious quote comes from Albert Einstein. 

As I was writing this piece a song came on the radio. "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you've a mind to." Penned and sung by the master of such music, Roger Miller. It is clear, there are some things we just cannot control, but we can be happy if we have a mind to.

Next week I am going to get a haircut, finally, and my wife has an appointment with her beauty shop. We also are planning to go out to one of our favorite restaurants. It isn't much, but it is a beginning. 

I heard an interesting item on TV this morning. Apparently in New York from a study of those who died from this virus, 99.2% of them had "underlying issues." So that must mean that only .08% of those who died actually died from this virus. As I have said before, any death is sad, but one would think if these numbers are correct, we might have oversold the threat from this bug. I am certainly no expert but it seems clear we could have dealt with this without destroying our economy. 

Oh, and by the way. The natives are getting restless. All over the country groups of people are marching in the streets demanding that we get back to normal. TV is terrible. There are no sports. I think I have seen every cop show that has ever been made at least two or three times. There is no news with the exception of the latest on "Covid 19". I am to a point where I don't want to hear the word. 

Very soon now there will be a vaccine for this virus and it will go the way of swine flu and other such maladies that have hit us. Gasoline will soon be back at $3.00 a gallon, and airline flights will be full. The stock market will probably go well beyond its highs of the past. As far as attitudes are concerned, it is just as easy to be positive as it is to be negative. Try it. You might like it.

Ron Scarbro April 29, 2020

SOLUTIONS ARE NONPARTISAN

It has been an interesting couple of months to say the least. I have learned some new things. I have seen old ideas take on new meaning. For example, I always thought a corona was a nice Mexican beer that usually came with a slice of lime. Wow, who knew? It turns out that corona is a virus that has been unleashed on the world by China and it has killed several thousand people with more soon to die. It even has its own nickname now. Covid19. What ever happened to Covids 1 through 18? I really don’t want to know, just wondering. 

I have learned other new things also. How about this one? If a pitcher throws you a curveball, and it breaks like it is supposed to, it is almost unhittable. But, if that pitch flattens out and doesn’t break, the next thing you see is the baseball flattening out and disappearing over the center field fence. So, I always thought flattening a curve was a bad thing if you are a pitcher. Well, apparently flattening a curve during a “pandemic” is a good thing. The number of cases rise until they reach this arbitrary peak, they level, flatten out, then start headed down. Soon then, the pandemic is over. This is the good flattening of the curve. 

According to most reports we have reached this leveling off point in some areas. We even are now considering reopening our economy and returning to some semblance of normal. I am of the opinion that this could not happen soon enough. Of course one size doesn't fit all situations. What might be okay for North Dakota isn't necessarily good for New York or New Jersey.  So, we will proceed with caution. 

Next we have "social distancing". That's the one that has become the biggest problem but at the same time it is credited with the biggest success we are having dealing with this virus. I was never a fan of people breathing down my neck anyway. But I am also not a fan of dictatorships. Some politicians have taken it upon themselves to sign "executive orders" regulating activities of free citizens. In their zeal to be in charge, they have thrown our Constitution out of the window. Well guess what? That has never and will never be acceptable to free citizens. 

I am convinced that if reasonable people are given true information, they will do the right thing without executive orders. The moronic Mayor of New York City, De Blasio, has instructed New Yorkers to spy on their neighbors, take pictures of perceived wrongdoing, and send those pictures to the authorities. They will then deal with it. I believe that was pretty much the way things happened in Germany in the 30s and 40s. Sorry Mayor. Wrong country and wrong time. We, the people don’t need or want a “gestapo”. 

In my last post I commented on the ease by which the citizens of this great country gave up their freedoms because of fear of a disease. Do you remember what Benjamin Franklin once said? “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” As we go further it would be in our interest to remember these brilliant words. It would also serve the interests of our “leaders” to remind themselves as well.

We are a free country. We, the people, are citizens, not subjects. Given the correct information most of us would do the right thing. Most of us would be responsible. Would-be dictators, take note. This pandemic will soon be over and we will expect you to return to your jobs. You know, the ones we hired you to do. Pandemics, by their nature, are neither Republican nor Democrat. Solutions are also nonpartisan. It is time to get back to work.

Ron Scarbro April 21, 2020

ONCE AGAIN WE HAVE BEEN SMILED ON

All this reminds me of when I was sixteen years old. Gasoline was cheap and I was grounded. I heard that from somebody on TV the other day. Here’s another one. The government wants to send me some free money and there’s no place to spend it.

As far as being relegated to staying home, that is not new for me. We pretty much are homebodies anyway. I have never been a fan of being in large groups. By the way, there is very little traffic now. That’s because there is no reason to be on the road. The reason gasoline is cheap is that nobody is buying any. Worldwide oil prices are in the toilet because there is a huge glut of unsold oil.

So what’s next? The President has some tough decisions ahead of him. When do we open this country back up? When do we decide that the cure might be worse than the disease? I heard Bill Bennet on TV this morning say that so far we have had about 20,000 deaths from this virus. Last year alone we had 61,000 deaths from seasonal flu and we had no restrictions and we didn’t destroy our economy. We have succeeded in scaring the daylights out of everybody and it may have been a complete overreaction. Of course hindsight is always 20/20. Unexpected deaths for any reason are sad and nobody is ever truly prepared to say goodbye to their loved ones. It is especially sad that most of these coronavirus deaths happened to folks who were alone at the time of their death because their families couldn’t be with them.

This is what's on the horizon. For pure economic reasons we will see the country back in business and probably within two weeks. At first there will be some hesitation because, among other things, we will still see new cases caused by this virus. We will certainly see deaths. But people are going to be headed to ball games, movies, and restaurants. Baseball season is underway. Spring football practice will very soon be up and running. The golf courses are empty and that never happens. 

Like everybody I was very disturbed by this virus. I practiced "social distancing". I would have even without the government telling me to. After all these restrictions are lifted I will still keep myself at a safe distance from others. I wash my hands a lot and always have. I didn't need the government telling me to or my local TV station teaching me how.

The most disturbing thing that happened during this "pandemic" however, was the ease and speed by which we, free Americans, allowed our country to become a dictatorship. Government officials suddenly decided they would dictate how we would live. Private businesses fell under regulation that would have made the communists proud. Our economy tanked in a matter of days. As a country we showed a vulnerability that I previously would have thought impossible. 

Some will say it was worth it. Others, like me, will suggest that we bide our time and see what happens. Will we recover? I don't know. How long will it take? Again I don't know. Was the cure worse than the disease? Only time will tell. 

This I do know. We had best get ourselves better prepared for incidents such as this in the future. The world, and that includes our enemies, is watching us. They are watching to see how we will continue to handle all this. 

As for me, I am thankful that Trump was in charge. I shudder to think how things might have been under certain other politicians. Pandemic or not, once again we have been smiled on. 

Ron Scarbro April 14, 2020

CHINA IS NOT OUR FRIEND

A few years back we started a relationship with a devil. That devil was communist China. China is not now and has never been our friend.

China was a country unable to feed her masses of people. They even had a law governing how many kids citizens could have. That number was two. Since it was in the people’s interest to have sons, many baby girls were killed by their own parents. Not too long ago China was attempting to import Korean girls because of the shortage of young ladies available to their male population.

The Chinese government decided they had to improve their economy. So, they began manufacturing products for the entire world. They stole ideas and plans for all types of equipment and electronic devices.  They had cheap labor and they capitalized on it. They followed their own rules. They stole intellectual property. They devalued their currency to give themselves unfair advantage over other countries. In other words, they played dirty.

Manufacturing plants from all over the world flocked to China to produce their products because China offered them that same cheap labor. American companies like Walmart and others bought up their cheaply made products because they could then sell them for a bigger profit. Drug manufacturers and medical device suppliers followed suit and began making their products in China. Profits flowed. 

Meanwhile China’s standard of living rose. Average citizens of that once starving country could now buy cell phones, cars, and even food. The government of China saw this as the opportunity to improve their military. They decided that not only would they get bigger and better, they would even become the world’s biggest and mightiest. They would control the world. 

Everything was going to plan until fate stepped in and put the hammer down, as fate so often does. 

In a little "wet market", loosely defined as an open air butcher shop with no concept of sanitation, and where all sorts of wild and domestic animals are butchered, a deadly virus was passed from an animal to a human and the world stood still. 

That was of course the dreaded corona virus that has affected the entire planet. 

Some individuals in this country criticized our President when he stopped the Chinese from coming to America. Some Governors disagreed and even went so far as to make certain to invite these virus carriers into their states. Look at New York now, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio. How do you feel now? This was political correctness run amok. 

We are going to get to the other side of this and my hope is that when we do, we will be much smarter. China must pay a huge price for their lying and inaction regarding this virus. Some say they should be held liable for murder. The only punishment they will understand, though, is financial. 

We, the people, need to bite the bullet. Our manufacturing plants need to come back to America. We may well have to pay a few cents more for our toys, but wouldn't that be worth it?

We need to get political correctness out of our vocabulary and our thinking. If someone is doing us harm, it doesn't matter whether they are Chinese, African, or European. We need to deal with what they are doing, not who they are.

Very soon now we will develop a vaccine as well as medical treatment for those afflicted. This dreaded virus will disappear as quickly as it appeared. 

Remember, as you go to the polls this November, how we handled this problem and who was running the show. It frightens me to consider what this could have been with almost any other of these slick tongued politicians in charge. 

We are fortunate. We continue to be smiled on. We, however, must not forget who and what we are.     

Ron Scarbro, April 7, 2020                                         

I WILL FEAR NO MORE, FOREVER

I was visiting with an old friend recently. He is 86 years old and dealing with some serious health issues. It occurred to me during our conversation that this has been a very exciting life we both have lived and at the same time it has sometimes been frightening.  

When you consider all that we have seen during these past few decades, you have to be amazed. As I recollect back to my earliest years, it is a wonder what I have seen. 

As a very young kid World War Two was in full swing. Of course I was too young to participate but I certainly knew about it. The war was all the conversation of my parents and their friends. It was very frightening. I was afraid of the Germans and the Japanese. I remember when it was over. Even as a young child. I was relieved. 

I do not intend to cover all the wars we have been through in the last eighty years but it is sufficient to say that there have been too many and they have been very costly in lives and in money. For most of my life I, like most reasonable Americans, lived in fear of the communists. Along comes Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher who got together and sent the commies packing. My fear went packing too. 

Beyond the destruction of war, there have been many, many exciting discoveries also. There have been cures for deadly diseases. If you are in my age group, you will surely remember polio. Polio was beyond frightening. As kids we couldn’t go into wading pools or public swimming pools because it was thought that the polio virus lived in those environments. Lo and behold, Dr. Jonas Salk comes along with a cure and suddenly the fear is gone. I also have ugly memories of leukemia. It was for a certainty a death sentence. No more. It is still deadly, but many are cured and live full lives. Danny Thomas put together St. Jude’s Hospital to treat kids with this deadly curse and it has been a wonderful success. Another fear relieved.

While this next item is a bit off point, I want to share it with you. Chief Joseph was the High Chief of the Nez Perce Indians. They lived in a state of constant war with the white settlers in the Northwest. One day after a particularly bloody battle, Chief Joseph just had enough. He said, “I will fight no more, forever.” And he didn’t. Wars between the Nez Perce and the white settlers ended. 

So here I am in my eightieth year of life and the entire world is trying to scare me once again. We have this deadly virus traveling all over the world looking for victims to sicken and kill. I should be afraid, very afraid.

Well, I have decided as Chief Joseph decided, I have had enough fear. Therefore, for me, I will fear no more, forever. I will continue to be cautious and careful. I will distance myself socially. I pretty much always have anyway. I will practice good hygiene. Again, I pretty much always have anyway. But I will fear no more. How are you going to scare an eighty-year-old anyway?

Be safe. Be careful, Be cautious. But, don’t be afraid.

Ron Scarbro March 31, 2020