fighting with my family

I evidently am not limiting my time on fb enough.
The events I "attend" there are entertaining, and I appreciate the efforts of Odd Lot and PFS and Jim Reed and Oatland Island Wildlife for their efforts with those events.
I completely understand that they miss their audience as much as we miss their live performances and shows.
The problem arises in my "checking in" on those in my network in between those events.
I admit that I have felt relieved and encouraged by the posts of the Boomers and my peeps in the world of education.
They all have a good, firm grasp of the seriousness of this COVID-19 pandemic.
I guess that's to be expected.
They're all in the danger zone for SARS-CoV-2, as I am.

However, I have become increasingly alarmed by the attitudes exhibited in the posts of my younger family members.
I mean, absolutely terrified, as they seem to be catching the mob fever espoused by the President of the USA.
Today, I seem to have been on a mission to enlighten them, to turn them away from the Dark Side of the White House.

My nephew Jason Barry, up in Atlanta, posted that he was "with Emily (his sister, who lives in Louisville, GA) and two others.
He recently had his 35th birthday, so perhaps his sister had gone to visit for that, I thought.
Jason rarely posts anything that isn't directly related to his job as a fitness and health coach, so I paused scrolling to read.
That was a mistake on my part.
He wrote:
"Becoming increasingly frustrated regarding the massive overreaction to COVID 19 and the damage this shutdown is going to have over the next few years.
— Thanks @StephanieMiller for showing me this — Zubin Damania just nailed the ENTIRE picture and how much more damaging the shutdown is and will be vs. the actual virus — not just to people's pockets, but to their actual health and quality of life.
This shutdown is more damaging than the virus from all aspects.
Period."

Wow.
Really?
I actually had to click the link he had included.
As soon as a saw the rabid ranter on it, I didn't even listen to a word.
One of Jason's friends chimed in, trying to talk sense to this educated man.
Jason mistook what his friend had said as being supportive of his stance.
The friend set him straight.

Chris Stastny wrote:
"Jason Barry, you mistake me. I'm referring to people who refuse to face reality on this one - I left it vague just to see what people would say.
Just compare the numbers here:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6915e4.htm

and here:

https://www.cdc.gov/.../cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

The number of deaths from this likely tripled...in ten days.
Many of those who died in that period got infected before current measures went into effect.
Hospitals here in Atlanta are at ICU capacity, they're low on equipment, and I know for a fact that one has used all of its ventilators.
It doesn't matter whether you choose to adhere to the CDC's numbers (which lag behind the facts on the ground) or the ones complied by Johns Hopkins - they tell the same story:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map

That clown in the video [Jason posted] isn't living in the same reality that the rest of us are.
That the government failed - at all levels - to respond to this threat properly does not change that reality.
Hospitals would have been overwhelmed without drastic action, and vastly more people would die from all causes as a result.
This may still happen, probably will in rural areas with minimal medical infrastructure.
And of course: the more these efforts succeed, the more the ignorant fools of the world will clamor to end them and preach the nonsense you posted here."

I felt the absolute need to chime in.
I added this:
"Jason Barry, I am shocked at your stance on this.
I would have thought your education had better prepared you to understand how serious this coronavirus is.
Did you realize there are already THREE DIFFERENT STRAINS of it out there?
That alone is going to prevent the development of a single vaccine that can innoculate people against future infection.
I know a lot of younger people who think they are out of harm's way, but they don't realize how dangerous their actions can be for their older family and friends.
This is not just an "old people" concern, it includes people of ALL ages with hypertension, people of ALL ages with diabetes, people of ALL ages with COPD... and you know people who fall into those categories.
Please, rethink your stance."

I'll have to see if he responds.
I hope he will, that he doesn't shut me out.

Shortly after, I saw a post by my cousin, Jennifer Bowers. I'm not sure what her job is, but her older sister, my cousin Lynn Lee, is a nurse, so I know Jenn is well aware of the dangers of COVID-19.
But she posted:
"A man physically dragged off a bus in Philadelphia by police for not having a mask on....a man put in handcuffs in Colorado in front of his child for playing a game of catch with her.... people given tickets for sitting in their cars listening to a pastor give a sermon on a megaphone...in Michigan people can't even buy seeds to grow their own food!!! This is a world y'all are ok with??"

Damn.
She's just looking at hate-monger news.
So, I stepped in with my two cents' worth of advice.
"It's going to get better.
Concentrate on the positive stories instead of allowing chain-jerkers to get the better of YOU.
In the grand scheme of life, this too shall pass and you need to work on patience... we all do."

Her reply was instant and set up a back and forth "conversation" between us.

Jenn:
"Faustina Smith, I understand all that but there has to be people to get mad enough to take a stand and put an end to this madness."

me:
"Well, the first person who develops a successful vaccine for the THREE DIFFERENT STRAINS of the SARS-CoV-2 virus wreaking death can have my blessing on taking a stand.
The rest of us need to pray for the researchers to get that done... and we need to keep our selfish me-me-me selves at home so we can sleep at night with a clear conscience that we did no harm to anyone and caused their death."

Jenn:
"Faustina Smith that's easy to say except for the millions of people who can't even put food on the table...but ok.
I know I've personally been waiting on unemployment for 4 weeks now...and there are millions just like me... worried about surviving...but I guess that is selfish of us."

me:
"Well, you can advocate for ending the shelter, if that's what you want to do, under these stipulations.
Only if you know no one with hypertension.
Only if you know no one with COPD.
Only if you know no one with diabetes.
Only if you know no one with cancer.
Only if you know no one over the age of 50.
Only if you know no one with compromised immune systems.
Only if you know no one with hypothyroidism."

Jenn:
"Faustina Smith, I AM one of those people, with underlying conditions...and yes I HAVE TO WORK and so do millions of others that live day to day or week to week in this country."

me:
"I do understand that, Jennifer Bowers, I do.
I don't know ANYONE who is wealthy enough to not work.
I'm just asking that you focus on the world.
I am also one of those with underlying conditions, as are so many others.
Please, just hang in there."

Jenn:
"Faustina Smith, yes ma'am."

That's when I had thought our "talk" was done, but no.
My Texas cousin, a man with political goals, had to weigh in.

Daniel Jaworski:
"Faustina Smith, the measures taken MUST be Constitutional!
The Constitution has to be the basis of all government action- NOT science."

Wow.
He never served a single day in the military, but he's going to wave THAT at ME???
Seriously?
Sigh.

me:
"The Constitution grants the pursuit of LIFE in front of LIBERTY and PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
I think asking folks to shelter in place falls into that LIFE situation."

Jenn:
"It totally goes against the pursuit of happiness...and a lot of other constitutional rights.
People must be able to put food on the table in order to live."

Daniel Jaworski:
"Jennifer Bowers, I agree.
The First Amendment was FIRST because it guaranteed the right to assemble and the right to speak and the right to practice religion ALL freely and you way you choose.
We’ve allowed governors all over absolutely trample over the First Amendment with ease."

So, another politician who had confused the CONSTITUTION with the CHANGES - that is, the Amendments - which were added later.
Sigh.
I bowed out of that conversation right then and there.
I have little tolerance for that kind of ignorance, especially from a politician -
especially from one of the sons of my James Richard lee, Jr.
My Uncle Jimmy would have been chagrined by Dan's lack of knowledge.

So, I left fb for a while.
When I returned, no replies had been posted to my last comments to the two earlier posts.
I took that as a hopeful sign.
Then, I saw this post from a church friend and it gave me pause.

Barbara Namkoong Gooby
"NYTimes:
The coronavirus is spreading from America’s biggest cities to its suburbs, and has begun encroaching on the nation’s rural regions.
The virus is believed to have infected millions of citizens and has killed more than 34,000.
Yet President Trump this week proposed guidelines for reopening the economy and suggested that a swath of the United States would soon resume something resembling normalcy.
For weeks now, the administration’s view of the crisis and our future has been rosier than that of its own medical advisers, and of scientists generally.
In truth, it is not clear to anyone where this crisis is leading us."

Then she added:
"Imagine an America divided into two classes: those who have recovered from infection with the coronavirus and presumably have some immunity to it; and those who are still vulnerable.
'It will be a frightening schism,' Dr. David Nabarro, a World Health Organization special envoy on Covid-19, predicted. 'Those with antibodies will be able to travel and work, and the rest will be discriminated against.' "

Well, those who have had it will only be immune from the strain that infected them.
I felt the need to step in again.
"Here's the scarier thing about that.
There are now THREE DIFFERENT STRAINS of the SARS-CoV-2 out there.
There has not yet been any definitive proof that folks infected with one strain could not also get infected by one, or both, of the others.
Plus, the opening of churches at Easter is definitely going to have repercussions, but we will not see those for at least another week, as the virus takes two weeks to cause serious COVID-19 medical issues in those infected.
Much sadness is headed for our country."

Indeed.
Much sadness has already been dealt to other countries, countries so much smaller than the USA.
I hate to think of the amount of people who will die here, in this country, one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, in the next two weeks.
Much sadness is headed for our country.