Columnist

RICHARD MASON: Learning to understand the present

We are living in times where it's hard to understand what is going on in our country. Don't worry; we'll figure it out sooner or later, it will go away, and we'll return to normal. That's because what is happening now is a response to situations which have mutated.

Let's start with trying to understand our reaction to the coronavirus. No, it's not just a bad flu and we should more or less ignore it. We started out trying to contain it, but now we're blowing and going like it's gone. But it's still with us, and cases are skyrocketing.

However, our reaction to the virus has changed. It has become a drag on the economy for a lot of individuals, and some Americans think wearing masks keeps them from enjoying life. But we can't stop trying to control the virus, because we are seeing cases continue to soar. It is almost a certainty that it will kill at least 200,000 of us. If we compare Europe and the United States, you'll see the Europeans have it almost under control, and we don't. Either we don't understand how deadly the virus is, or we are willing to risk infections. It is that simple.

Maybe understanding how it's transmitted and how easily it spreads will give us direction on how to get it under control. The Chinese did a study of one person who had the virus and traveled on a single flight while contagious. He infected everyone in the seats around him within a radius of 10 feet. In our country, a single individual infected over 40 choir members in one event. The virus is highly contagious, and that, combined with being extremely deadly, moves this up to the emergency response level.

It is obvious we are not doing enough to slow down the spread. Just look at the daily spikes where states are opening up. The reason is simple. Some Americans are refusing to wear masks when in a crowd or out in public. That, combined with gatherings where bars, churches, and other venues are filled with shoulder-to-shoulder people, some with masks and some without, spreads the virus.

I'm not going to church while new cases are popping up every day in Union County, but I know some churches are open with masks being optional. These churches are adding to the spike in infections.

But a mask is not enough. It only helps, and that is why all large gatherings where most of the attendees aren't wearing masks will spread the virus. Consider how many people were infected by that one choir member, and the next time you are with a crowd think about how easily it would be for just one person to infect hundreds.

Now let's look at the demonstrations that are being held around the country. Of course Black Lives Matter, and while marching for justice and the ending of police targeting black citizens is important, it does not justify looting and burning of buildings. In Minneapolis many of the stores that were destroyed were owned by Blacks, and for police and firefighters to stand back and let any building burn is wrong. But it is also wrong for this country to not make sure that every citizen has equal rights, and ensure those rights are protected by police and firefighters. We shouldn't continue to pretend every American has equal rights when Black Americans are denied them.

However, a mutation of the protests has taken place, and it is the removal of any statues that have anything to do with slavery. That sounds simple, but it is anything but. Consider this: 41 signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves. And now we're not just after the slaveholder statues, but anyone who treated indigenous people badly. Statues of Columbus, Catholic saints in California, and even one of General Grant have been attacked. It seems that Grant owned slaves, so down comes his statue, as well as one of Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" and was a slave owner.

Even if we could remove every statue and change the name of every street and building which has anything to do with slavery, why would we do it? Slavery was and is horrible, and there is nothing we can say or do to justify slavery in the old South.

However, the Southern emotions that carry over from generations are still with a lot of us today, and some of those emotions have painful roots, because of the huge loss of life during the Civil War. Most of the statues were erected to memorize the ordinary soldiers who died.

Those painful roots are why I live in Arkansas and not in Georgia. My great-grandfather was killed in defending Atlanta, and when Union troops marched from Atlanta to the sea, my grandmother, who was around 8 years old, told me she stood with her mother, and as her mother cried, the Union troops looted and burned their house. General Sherman ordered his troops to burn the homes of any Confederate sympathizers. Later the family lost their land to carpetbaggers, who paid the taxes on the property, and the family headed west. They ended up in Rose Bud. My grandmother never said a curse word except for "Damn Yankees."

Yes, the South suffered, and Southerners have a long memory. Many of the monuments here are in honor of sons, fathers and brothers who died.

Over 90 percent of the Southern soldiers never owned slaves. The feelings about Americans who died in battle run deep, and the removal of a monument to any American soldier who died, whether as a rebel American or an American who fought in Vietnam or any war, sends the wrong message.

Every soldier was someone's loved one, and in all likelihood they didn't have a choice of whether to fight or not.

I think we should design a simple plaque for Civil War statues, and make it clear the monument is only for an American soldier. I don't believe we should destroy any monument to an American who fought and died, whether in a southeast Asia jungle or a Pennsylvania field.

Email Richard Mason at richard@gibraltarenergy.com.

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