Page 4 - Mid Valley Times 7-30-20 E-edition

Thursday, July 30, 2020 | A4 | Mid Valley TiMes Editorial & Opinions
Serving the Readers of the Reedley Exponent, Dimuba Sentinel and Sanger Herald.
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION A eulogy goes out to
Doubting this virus is a huge gamble
Rick Curiel — Sanger Editor Jon Earnest — Reedley Editor Dick Sheppard — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.”
— John Ruskin (1819-1900)
common sense
Today's column subject carries
such excellent analysis of our cur-
rent events of state that I wish I could
take credit, but that is not the case.
I received this in the form of an e-
mail from a gentleman in this area
and have been unable to develop an intellectual source for attribution. It's
made the rounds in recent years but
its original source remains clouded by
time. This obituary for common sense follows:
“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
"He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well-intentioned, but overbearing regulations were set in place.
"Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teenagers being suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened the situation. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they had themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to admin- ister sun lotion or an aspirin to a student ; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to get an abortion.
"Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Com- mandments became contraband, churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home, but the burglar could sue you for assault because you protected yourself and your own.
"Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge financial settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife Discretion and his daughter, Responsibility and his son Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights. Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm A Victim. His funeral was poorly attended by so few who realized that he was gone.”
My apologies if this message is redundant for you — it has, after all, been around for some time—but given the idiocy that is now sweeping our country it seemed entirely appropriate. The message in the quoted essay about the loss of a living, breathing presence of Com- mon Sense is understated when compared to today's antics of Black Lives Matter, Antifa and the “woke” culture of 2020. Money is being compliantly being extorted from some of the largest businesses in the United States to fund these Marxist groups.
If anyone out there doesn't see the mindlessness of trashing and burning business districts of Democratic controlled cities, let me know. Tell me what is uplifting about ruining small, often minority-owned businesses with burning, looting and breaking windows.
As if that weren't enough to make our case, Joe Biden who has difficulty putting an entire thought to- gether, is (according to media sources) leading in the presidential polls. If that's true, common sense is in- deed gone!
But, as always, that's only one man's opinion.
“It’s not as serious as people are making it out to be.” “It’s all fake.” “It’s a ‘plandemic’.” “It’s a hoax.” “I don’t believe in that.”
By now I’m sure you’ve heard the doubters. Though most people understand the gravity of this pandemic, it puzzles me that there some who doubt its validity. How do you come to such a conclusion? Where do you find such a con- spiracy? Are these ideas spun by social and other forms of media, the very formats often criticized by such doubters?
It’s confusing.
By the time you read this column, nearly 150,000 Ameri- cans would have already died from this new virus. Yes but, they argue, it has a 99 percent survival rate and most people who get it experience mild symptoms.
That too is true. What is of- ten overlooked, however, is that current numbers are a reflec- tion of the effects of the pan- demic under preventative mea- sures. If we are to assume that the virus has just a one percent mortality rate and, based on that number, relax measures to prevent the spread the num- bers would jump dramatically.
“But the mortality rate is lower than one percent.”
Best conservative estimates put the mortality rate of the COVID-19 Coronavirus put it around 0.006 percent. And though that number does seem quite low as a percentage, a contagious new virus with no known cure and that kind of
mortality rate would translate to roughly 47 million deaths worldwide.
How much more serious does it need to be?
We haven’t even seen the worst of it, as fall and flu sea- son are just around the corner. At this rate, it is conceivable that nearly half a million lives could be lost in the United States by year’s end due to the coronavirus. To put things in perspective, around 418,000 American lives were lost in World War II, over a four year period.
Please don’t tell me you think World War II was not that serious. That would be a bla- tant disregard for the lessons of history and would change the greatest generation who ever was to the greatest gen- eration who never was.
It doesn’t make sense to take this pandemic lightly, or to accept the notion that it shouldn’t affect me. This new virus affects us all.
You may not be in that one percent, but there is a chance you may know someone who is.
While talking to an old friend the other day, we got on the subject of the virus and he made known to me his take on the situation by jesting, “I don’t know one person who’s had it.”
His attitude changed and his laughter quickly ended af- ter I told him that, personally, I know of two people who have died from it and others who have suffered from it. It was only after that point that he inquired about my own health
and the health of my family.
That’s hu-
man nature
too, though. It’s
always less se-
rious when it
doesn’t affect Rick Curiel us directly. It becomes very serious, however, as soon as it gets closer to home.
Choosing not to believe in this pandemic is a gamble in my opinion. But, knowing that some people are willing to gamble, I will leave you this advice from my days of play- ing poker.
The game of poker has ma- ny lessons that carry over to real life. It is a constant evalu- ation of risk versus reward and it requires you to read more than just the hand in front of you. There are times when you might suspect a bluff and there are times that it makes sense to call that bluff, especially if it requires little risk for a big reward.
This is not one of those hands. If you call and you are right, your reward is really in- significant. Life goes on as it was and you move ahead with your normal life. But if you call and you lose, it has the poten- tial to cost you everything.
Any successful poker play- er will tell you that you never call a bluff when the chips are stacked against you.
Rick Curiel is Sanger editor for The Times.
Fred Hall
Cities' and personal finances, bills don't take a break because of COVID-19
We all know our respective ways of life have been flipped on their collective heads be- cause of COVID-19. That's es- pecially true for many of us when it comes to making a liv- ing, paying our bills and feed- ing our families. Stretching a buck these days is important for individuals, families orga- nizations and businesses of all sizes – especially small.
The same goes for all our government entities, espe- cially at the local level. At the July 28 Reedley City Council meeting (one of the few live ones you'll find around, with highly competent physical distancing practiced), agenda items reflecting these unique times. Items describing how the city's administrative ser- vices are helping fund day
care programs at T.L. Reed and Washington Schools, even without the likelihood of live and blended instruction. The city has the forward thinking plan of providing child care service to teachers and staff who must be on campus even when there's distance learning.
In addition, the city voted to waive the rental fee of the River City Theatre Company until the end of the year — helping save the organization more than $7,000 at a time when there's no revenue com- ing in from shows and produc- tions. During the advent of the virus resulting in temporary and more indefinite closures of many small business, the city also has provided forgiveness for many stores and business sites that had to shutter their
doors.
Not only
Reedley, but
other region-
al cities like
Sanger, Dinuba,
Parlier, Orosi
and Orange
Cove have to
work around reduced reve- nues. In Reedley's case, it's the bad timing of reduced sales tax preventing the city from receiving the expected level of added funding after the pas- sage earlier this year of Mea- sure B.
Local government, as well as business and individual fi- nances, continue to do their best to keep the books balanced in these tough times.
Jon Earnest is Reedley edi- tor for The Times..
Jon Earnest