COVID Musings

By Dick Cromie

April 1, 2020

My thoughts, on this day and in this place:

The world is in the midst of a nearly complete shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the likes of which I’ve never seen in my lifetime. Schools, businesses, government, and institutions are shuttered, and life has nearly ground to a standstill. Normally clogged freeways are empty of traffic, the few planes still in the air are at 15% capacity, and the brave shoppers still out there are wearing latex gloves and face masks. Toilet paper and even eggs are nearly impossible to find as the hoarding and irrational actions of a frightened public seem the rule and not the exception. Hopefully by the time you read this, the pandemic will be a distant memory along with a few lasting lessons on better ways to manage public health, and gentler ways to look out for each other. Time will tell. It always does.

Some of us alive today have experienced terrifying polio epidemics, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam, nuclear power disasters, then 9/11 followed by the great recession and housing meltdown, plus the longest war in our history, Afghanistan. Our youngsters won’t relate to any of those things, but I guarantee they will be telling COVID-19 stories to their own children and grandchildren years into the future.

Let me reflect, now as “an old person,” on life as I see it, and have seen it, through the lenses of time. We’ve all had plenty of time for reflection these last months.

Sadly, politics has become a blood sport, and Washington a cesspool of rancor, corruption, and hateful commentary. I hope this will change and that I live to see it. It was not always so, in my memory, at least. But if you read about our founding fathers drafting the U.S. Constitution after the Revolution, and trying to form a government, you will see the same bitterness and hate then as now among the political parties and leaders of the day. I invite you to read Ron Chernow’s Hamilton and perhaps The Federalist Papers lest you think government has become more civilized in the last 250 years. At least today they don’t bludgeon each other in the halls of Congress or engage in duels to the death. Today’s duels are personal attacks, dredged up scandals, truthful or not…no matter, political left versus right, thoroughly biased news reporting from both sides, wealth vs. poverty, and criminal behavior posing as peaceful protests. Oh, and let’s not forget the forest fires blamed on climate change rather than negligent forest management and even arson. Seems like the new reality is where you pick your preferred narrative and spew hate towards the opposing views.

But these final thoughts are not meant as a scolding. We are all better than this. We need to put God back in our lives, since He is in control of our very universe and the courses of our lives. The simpler lives of our childhood were not necessarily better compared to the present. They may have seemed so through the lenses of time, but there was racism, gender inequality, wars, the arms race, smog, crime, unsafe cars, way too much garbage on our planet, and any number of other threats to each of us individually and to society at large.

But this did not deter us from discovery and astonishing progress. We invented the transistor, the integrated circuit, the computer, modern rocketry, renewable power, cell phones, …and, of course, the Big Mac. We walked the surface of the moon, explored outer space, found the Titanic, unraveled the human genome, conquered innumerable diseases, drink clean water from our taps, and we are healthier and more affluent than any other generation in history.

*************************************

But let me end with one final reflection…a full year after this first part of my essay was written.

*************************************

April 2021

The pandemic in many ways seems to be in its twilight, or let’s at least hope so. My wife Marcia and I have had our two vaccines and are hopeful to see our grandchildren once again before the first days of summer dawn in the east. Our youngest grandson is nearly a year old, and our only connection has been through Zoom calls and Marco Polo videos. Perhaps a parting thought to illustrate the pain and frustration of the pandemic.

Marcia and I were in line, in our car, snaking around a vast hospital parking lot waiting for her final injection. As we started to pull into the huge tent structure for her shot…..BANG…..an elderly woman in her old Buick slammed into our rear bumper. I’m not sure if it was her temperament, or possibly a result of isolation and social distancing “fatigue,” but she was unwilling to roll down her window more than about an inch and refused to discuss or apologize for hitting our car. I was angry at the time, thinking a simple “I’m sorry I ran into you” would have sufficed. Then she gruffly waved me away and closed her window. Maybe her small action, or in this case inaction, was emblematic of the mental suffering we have all experienced the past year. I’ll never know.

My recommendations? Again, allow God back into our lives. Think of others before ourselves. Be kind. Forgive even the unforgivable. Never hold a grudge. And finally, I will quote Mr. Lee Iacocca who spoke at my college graduation in 1969 as president of Ford Motor Company: ”In your final hours on this earth, you will NOT wish you had spent more time at the office or watched more TV.”

In closing I offer another quote: Spock…from Star Trek, 1966: “Live Long and Prosper.”

Be well and be kind.

Dick Cromie

Dick Cromie grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, on a family dairy farm. He attended high school at Phillips Academy in Andover and college at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with B.S. degrees in both Applied Science and Engineering. During graduate school at Indiana University, he and hometown friend Marcia Anderson were reacquainted, and they were married in 1973. Dick’s career has been in business and technology, with Marcia teaching equestrian skills to youth at their southern California ranch. Dick’s passion has always been classic cars, and especially vintage Ford Mustangs. After raising two boys and spending over 40 years in southern California, they retired to Sparks, Nevada, in 2013. In 2020 Dick published his memoirs of life’s humorous moments in book form entitled Pieces of My Mind (and sometimes pieces of my heart.) They are blessed with six grandchildren, a gentle puppy, and an evil black cat.

Thank you for visiting Humanities Heart to Heart, a program of Nevada Humanities. Any views or opinions represented in posts or content on the Humanities Heart to Heart webpage are personal and belong solely to the author or contributor and do not represent those of Nevada Humanities, its staff, or any donor, partner, or affiliated organization, unless explicitly stated. At no time are these posts understood to promote particular political, religious, or ideological points of view; advocate for a particular program or social or political action; or support specific public policies or legislation on behalf of Nevada Humanities, its staff, any donor, partner, or affiliated organization. Omissions, errors, or mistakes are entirely unintentional. Nevada Humanities makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on these posts or found by following any link embedded in these posts. Nevada Humanities reserves the right to alter, update, or remove content on the Humanities Heart to Heart webpage at any time.

Kathleen KuoMay 3, 2021H1 Comment