Ray Cardello February 24,2021

The Mask became a symbol of safety and control

The Mask, the symbol of the COVID -19 Pandemic. The mandatory face covering that we were told would protect us from contracting the COVID virus and the piece of cloth or paper that has become a lightning rod in communities across this great country. It is a symbol of a virus that brought America to her knees. When the virus hit in the early days of 2020, there was confusion and fear. We were getting mixed messages from the “experts” as the counts of inflicted and dead from the virus grew by the day. The Mask will help, the mask is useless, no, it will be needed to protect us all. Be careful of surfaces, wash down your groceries, disinfect everything around you and for God’s sake, wash your hands often.You could not pick up a newspaper of listen to a newscast without getting a different opinion in those early days. It was that confusion that festered the fear that led to a paralysis of our economy and our country. Schools were closed, businesses sent their workers home, the roads were emptied, stay at home orders were sent out…..life came to a halt. The right to assemble was dead. The right to worship was dead. The right to move freely and to be with others at will was dead. Our rights were dropping like flies under the whack of a swatter. Our life of freedom and of free will was over. The government that was to serve the people was now the master of the masses. We stopped whatever we were doing at noon and five for updates. We were waiting to be told what we were to do next. We were basically under house arrest, the victims of a foreign born virus and of a government we allowed to usurp our rights. We were willing victims and those in charge seized on our fear and complacent state of mind to place more and more restrictions on us and our means of making a living and providing for our families. We were no longer a free nation. No body knows when we will be again.

Yesterday marked the 500,000th death in our nation attributed to COVID-19. We have a blind faith that this info is correct. We have doubts but we have become fearful to question or challenge the ones in charge. Joe Biden went to the air last night to mark this somber day and to plea to us to look forward to better sunny days ahead. It was a wonderful performance from an inept individual. He appealed to our raw emotions and he did his job. The number 500,000 is a huge number, one that is tough to get our arms around. It is all a part of the plan to keep us in fear and under control. I feel horrible that I have a cynical view of all of this but I do and I think for good reason. We are only being fed the bad news of the daily happenings of our new life under COVID Times. At no time yesterday did I hear that the number of new cases of COVID was actually down over 85% over the last four week period. Instead of being told of that positive stat, we were told we may need to wear masks into 2022 and that we may atually need to wear two…..if one is good, two must be better! The number of dead from COVID, and we can debate the accuracy at another time, puts it as the third highest cause of death in the US per year, right behind Heart Disease and Cancer. A huge number but in a different perspective it tells a different story. Another variable in an ever changing year-long story of COVID-19.

We have much to be positive about. Rates of contraction down, Two vaccines are in distribution with a third being approved soon. Schools are opening. Restaurants are under less restrictions. Working remotely is a common method of employment in 2021. What we need to do now that we have adapted and learned to live with the fear, is to get our liberties back. We need to be firm and insist that this happen. That whatever was taken away be reinstated. That is our mission. That is now our purpose and how successful we are in that effort will determine how we live in the Post COVID era. We have survived but our fight is not over. We are in the process of putting down the virus. Now we have to put down those who have deemed themselves in charge. They did not earn that spot, we did not appoint them to that spot but we do need to remove them from that spot so that we can then become once again the Land of the Free.