Grandpa,
I, along with most of my friends, are tired of this politics that the elected officials are playing with our lives; this COVID-19 stuff is all make believe. We have an election coming up and I am strongly urging everyone to vote against any candidate who is currently in office or who supports the measures of idiocy we are living through right now. This country has never been stricken by anything as silly as this COVID-19. With modern day medicine, we can beat any little old flu virus. I survived Agent Orange (a chemical weapon used during the Vietnam war); I think I can handle a little chest cold. The news media is making a fortune on this scare and I just will not fall for it.
Grandpa says: We read it every week in the Today in History column in The Voice: “Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.” It was just 100 years ago that the world faced a similar pandemic: The Spanish flu. It did not receive the media coverage that COVID-19 is getting because the news black outs of the first world war did not permit proper reporting. More American soldiers were killed by this virus than died in battle in 1918 and 1919. About three percent of the world population died from this flu virus. Without proper news coverage there was little understanding of what was happening in the world. With aspirin being the new wonder drug of the time, many people were taking aspirin to fight the disease. Many died from overdoses, called aspirin poisoning. Soldiers returning from the war are blamed for a second wave of the disease. The fact is that nobody can say for sure if that was the cause, or if lax sanitation was the real culprit. All Grandpa can say is that if you are willing to risk the odds, that is fine for you. However, are you willing to risk the odds for someone else? If you have any social conscience at all, follow the guidelines when you are in public. Funny thing about viruses, germs, and other ‘wee beasties’; they could give a hoot about personal political beliefs. Their job is to survive long enough to fall the host organism. As a Vietnam vet, you should understand the concept of working within the unit to retain the ground we have gained. Think about when you were in the trenches of war. Did you do things to aid the enemy’s efforts? I doubt it. If cooperation was good enough for that war, why isn’t it good enough for this one?
Grandpa says: Can you believe how quickly 2020 has gone by? It is time again for Grandpa to beg your indulgence. Every Autumn I ask my readers to reflect on what is in their lives for which they are thankful. This year we will publish Thanksgiving Gratitude letters November 19, one week before Thanksgiving Day. In order to have your letter included in the Gratitude Column, please have your letters to Ask Grandpa in by November 1.
Got something stuck in your craw? Ask Grandpa. Address your letters to Ask Grandpa c/o The Voice, PO Box 123,
Aurora, IL 60507 or send an E-mail to askgrandpa@thevoice.us.