Up and down the Front Range and around the world people are beseeching the heavens. How could this great medical crisis befall the most refined, politically correct, loving generation of all times?
People are asking isn’t there some sort of medical breakthrough that could have us all returning to get haircuts, playing tennis at the park, and getting together for a few drinks after work at Elway’s? How dare this strike down God’s favorite people, the Front Range yuppie puppies?
Well folks, I know this is a tough go for many of you who, on Easter Sunday, turned on TV and watched what my Grandma used to view, Mass for Shut-ins, and searching the internet for a visit from Bishop Fulton Sheen appearing in his cape, little red hat and a blackboard.
People ask what medical advances could be made so they can play pickleball again with their inner circle of friends?
You know guys, I spent a couple of evenings reading about medical advances in our country. The one that stands out in my slightly diminished memory is 1954 when a remarkable scientist-physician named Jonas Salk defeated a far more deadly disease, polio. Why don’t I remember my mother, father and grandfather blaming Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower for polio?
Because, as you know, this current virus carries heavy politics, known on most media outlets as Trump’s virus. When almost every other major disease or plague rips through humanity it is rare that it picks up politics like this disease has. I recommend everyone read Randy Shilts’s book “And The Band Played On,” about how the horrible disease of HIV/AIDS became politicized.
Spend a little time reading about 1846 anesthesia. 1861 germ theory. 1895 medical imaging. 1928 penicillin. 1954 organ transplants. Stem cell therapy and immunology in the 1970s. Artificial intelligence in the 21st century and my personal favorite of all, birth control pills. Now that folks is a medical breakthrough.
Our nation has come through, in my father’s generation, the Great American Depression. No one was ever quite sure of the total cost of the Great Depression in 1929 when the stock market crashed, the roaring twenties came to an end, the life toll, the destructiveness, and as many historians believe, really doesn’t end until Pearl Harbor. How, oh my God, did families survive all of that? Then comes December 7, 1941. Our nation spent more than $4 trillion, more than 400,000 U.S. troops’ lives were lost . Then comes the Cold War. How many snuck up and covered up, rolled up and kissed our behinds goodbye under a desktop. That was fear factor.
This nation has gone to the moon, this nation has helped cure AIDS, polio and incredible lists of diseases. As a grandparent I no longer fear that my grandson or anyone’s grandson will contract polio.
There is a great line through history, life finds a way. Find one. Let’s get the lights back on. Compare men and women who came through the Great Depression in America, took on the Axis, returned to build a country and do all these wonderful things we listed to the young people today that require a soft warm puppy and a quiet place to go to because
they heard a discouraging word. Who now pick up telephones and rat out neighbors, who become social scolds on neighborhood networks? My God, that’s the kind of stuff that made the old Europeans proud.
I ask you, as my father would ask, what the hell is wrong with you? This is a virus folks. It’s nasty and it does kill people. But civilizations, nation states and individuals need to be challenged in order to grow and mature. These people claim they want to make a difference in our society. I wonder if the young kid who went down to the Marine Corps on December 8, had the same mindset?
I leave you with this. Are we good enough, are we tough enough, do we care enough to come through this? My answer is yes and the history of our nation makes the case.
Let’s get back in the game.
— Peter Boyles