China Virus: A Mom's Open Letter to Her Grown Children

Dear Ones,

How is everyone doing? Does anyone need anything? Food, supplies, home school teacher, cook, housemaid, moral support? Seriously, I really hope no one is hesitating to ask questions or think for themselves or talk to each other. I mean this bizarre and unprecedented thing is happening and it seems we are not talking about it in any serious way. My 88-year-old mom says this feels even weirder than WWII or the polio epidemic which she lived through. She and I are talking about it a lot.

We may feel compelled to isolate ourselves physically to whatever degree, choose for ourselves it is the right thing to do, or be doing it because it is forced on us (such as school and church being discontinued) but we mustn’t give up our God-given faculties and freedoms of reason and critical thinking to communicate and share our thoughts and feelings.We are indeed balancing on a slippery slope. (Note 3/27: For example, in Canada, people are now being fined if patrolling police deem they are not keeping the proscribed social distance from others.) In many instances we are being treated like prisoners or babies or criminals. This may be necessary at times (although I don't think it is now), but it is at times like these that we must exert what freedoms we still possess. In other words, resist tyranny in every way possible. Thoughts, prayers, ideas, principles, words are ways we can resist.

I know you are all busy with kids and everything but this is really important too. Nothing like this has ever happened. It needs to be continually looked at from every angle. We mustn’t be intimidated into not questioning or thinking or talking about it because that is unpopular and people perceive a negative tone or don't like your choice of words. Especially since several of our first amendment freedoms have been suspended indefinitely, we should look at the situation with a wide perspective. Freedoms once given up are very hard to fully regain or fully protect.

There is a great deal of historical human experience when it comes to diseases. For instance, in 2014-16 experts predicted one million Americans would become infected with the deadly ebola. Even with that expert prediction, Americans went about their business. Guess how many got it/died? Eleven, with two deaths. I don’t hear hardly anybody talking about what we can learn from the past. In fact, I don’t hear that much about the actual virus. It’s surrounded by some mystery. Maybe it's different than anything we have ever seen. I just don't know. I am being told it is highly contagious and a very bad virus that people who already have weakened systems are prone to contract and that it will probably do them in, as would any respiratory infection. No one is performing autopsies to know for certain if it was the virus that primarily killed them. You see how the data is not reliable. Anyway, what I hear most about are all the many extreme political and social and economical reactions to it. This is troublesome. Will these extreme precautions result in worse things than if the virus were to generally run its natural course? There are many good questions that need asking.

I only say this because I feel a bit of that forfeiting of freedom happening to me and it’s scary. In a free country there should be no subject that we feel hesitant to discuss. Ideas expressed in words, in whatever tone, are not inherently uncivil. Using words is a key characteristic of a civilized people. Words can be passionate or poorly expressed or even rude or shocking, but speaking and writing are what civilized adults do instead of coming to blows. (This is different than continual verbal and psychological abuse aimed directly at oppressed individuals who can't easily remove themselves from it.) Isn’t online communication actually a lot safer than debating in person? Obviously, yes. By the time, if ever, the debaters meet up, their fires may well have cooled. And they probably won’t ever meet up anyway.  Many of the online debating is among strangers who are probably not violent people. Another argument I’ve heard is that you would never say the things you say online to someone in person, and I beg to differ. Look at the English parliament. Look at our various kinds of media interviews and politician debates. Conservatives who speak at universities are shouted down. Protestors and paraders and transvestites carry obscene signs and wear obscene costumes and say every manner of thing in public that are offensive to many. People shout and hurl all sorts of insults and invectives at each other in person. So yes, it happens in person. It always has, but it is becoming violent. This is not because of facebook. It is because of human nature. I think online debating is civilized, and a blessing to ordinary people who feel compelled to call out errors and lies, especially when compared to the lewdness and violence taking place in our streets. And I don’t buy the argument about the bad language used online when our mainstream media and entertainment uses worse language that everybody is getting more and more used to.  

Let’s not believe everything we are hearing or reading without a large grain of salt. Right now I don’t agree with some people I usually agree with and find they are changing their minds as things go along. In times like these both the worst and the best comes out in people. There are many, many forces at play, including human nature, making this a very politically charged and fluid situation. Some people take advantage of a crisis or position themselves to impress. There are more potential dangers than meet the eye. I am wondering a lot of things, such as is this going to be the way we deal with every flu that comes along? Should we get used to it? No, we shouldn't.

At a time like this I think we should be talking more, not less, to our family, friends, neighbors, and whoever will listen/read, especially if we are going against the herd. People who dare to speak up online are getting anywhere from threatened, accused, virtue-signaled, or unfriended merely for sharing their differing opinions. At times like these I think the person who goes online to "pick a fight" is actually courageous because they are willing to take flack for raising unpopular questions and sharing differing opinions. Remember, truth is hate to people who hate truth, including people who are unthinkingly going along. "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" (George Orwell). Nobody should be getting shut down. People can listen/talk or not listen/talk to whomever they want. But right now we should toughen up and everyone should be communicating in all possible ways. I like how one pundit put it: we go to the dentist when we have a bad tooth, but we don't give the dentist complete control over our lives forever. I want to keep that in mind.

In many ways, this is a bizarre time. Let’s think and talk freely about it. People may express feelings and ideas we cringe or balk at, but we can take it. We are civilized adults. Ideas, opinions, and words can’t hurt us. We are free to express a contrary idea. We can turn to God and use the brains He gave us, that is, step back, think independently, and discern truth from error and common sense from sentimentality. Let's not be afraid to engage with others in civilized ways, come what may, especially in this time when Godless, distorted, wrong, and alarmist ideas are so easily spread. I am saying this to myself as well as to all of you.

Much love,

Mom