Life as we know it
As President Biden quickly approaches fulfilling his promise of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office ahead of schedule, we may be able to begin to heal as a nation and as a planet. It will not be a sudden return to life as we knew it, tearing off our masks en masse like a great Band-Aid. It will be slow as we safely resume social life. Many differences and new habits will be permanent.
The indelible tradition of saying “God bless you” when someone sneezes was born from the bubonic plague raging through Europe after Pope Gregory the Great suggested the prayer would protect them. The people of Hong Kong learned that wearing masks saves lives during the 2003 SARS outbreak. Their continued tactics became a model for the rest of the world during COVID-19. What made the difference was Hong Kong citizens themselves using common sense.
In the United States, Democrats embraced the science, we wore masks, practiced social distancing, and washed our hands. Republicans literally tore up Obama’s pandemic outbreak playbook and refused to follow basic common-sense guidelines. They continue to try to keep us sick, infecting us with their Big Lie and fear. They project, deflect, obfuscate, spin, blame others, and make up their own rules. Like an addict, we cannot force them to get better. Republican voters must want to cure themselves of their cognitive dissonance. And yet, Democrats are the ones who encourage everyone to vote, while Republicans continue efforts to disenfranchise voters.
Democrats heal the economy after the Republicans cripple it. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was signed into law Thursday with not one Republican signature. President Biden has already signed ‘existential’ executive orders on climate and environment to heal the planet after Republicans actively deregulated, siding with dirty energy, the Russians, and the Middle East. Even after we have seen how capable we are of surviving a whole year without wasteful behavior, Republicans are rushing back to the old ways. What will remain one of the biggest challenges is healing the courts and SCOTUS. Democrats have our work cut out for us.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.