Sacrifice

 I apologize in advance for ranting on Thanksgiving Day, but I have to get this off of my chest.  There is a sizeable portion of the U.S. population that is made up of selfish, spoiled brats.

In the United States we are experiencing a surge in Covid19.  There have been more than 100,000 new cases reported here every day for the last three weeks.  According to the Worldometer website, the latest seven day average has been 1708 deaths per day, with the death toll topping 2000 for the last two days.  We have reached a record high of 88,000 people in the U.S. hospitals, and more than 24,000 Covid patients are in serious or critical condition.  Many of our hospitals are reaching the breaking point.  

Last week the CDC issued a warning, and Dr. Fauci has pleaded that the American people not travel during this holiday period and that Thanksgiving gatherings be limited, ideally to include  no one from outside one's household.  Many have headed that advice.  One poll estimates that around 60% of Americans have scaled back their Thanksgiving plans, and that one in ten will not be celebrating Thanksgiving at all.  (I am one of those.  I will spend the day by myself.)

However, 40% of the population will have ten or more people or will have people from outside their household on this Thanksgiving Day.  Just as with the issue of wearing facemasks, there are people who declared that limiting their holiday celebrations is an infringement on their liberty.  That is a pile of B.S.!

In the last nine months more than a quarter of a million people have died from this disease in the United States.  We are on course to exceed the U.S. combat deaths during the more than three years of World War II.   Our parents and grandparents knew the meaning of sacrifice during that war.  More than 300,000 made the ultimate sacrifice, more than twice that many (including my father) were injured.  Those who made it through the war unscathed physically endured the hell of the battlefield.  Back at home the civilian population was expected to make sacrifices in their daily lives.  Families had ration cards which limited the amount of food, gasoline, tires, and even clothing they could purchase.  Macaroni and cheese became a popular substitute for meat, and driving to visit out-of-town relatives was often impossible.  Recycling of metal, paper and rubber was encouraged.  Many planted "Victory Gardens" to supplement their supply of vegetables.  By 1945 an estimated 40% of vegetables grown in the U.S. were from "Victory Gardens".  While black marketing and profiteering did exist, the vast majority of civilians willingly made these sacrifices.

Now we are in the midst of another war.  With the development of effective vaccines, the end is in sight, but until then the number of deaths continues to mount.  We have too many  ignoramuses who believe that the pandemic is overblown or even a hoax and idiots who believe that the vaccine is a government plot to control our lives.  And far too many people are unwilling to make the simple sacrifices of wearing a mask or foregoing their usual holiday celebrations for one year.  I wonder how these people would have coped if they lived during World War II.  Perhaps they would have preferred to see the Axis win the war rather than have their petty, little lives inconvenienced.