Years ago there was a song made famous by The Judds. It had a line that said “Grandpa, tell me ‘bout the good old days”. Now, the good old days the song was referring to were the days following World War II, when life was on the rebound after facing a true global adversary. They were the days of healing. Days of mending a broken world.
Well, as a millennial, I dealt with my coming of age in the wake of 9-11, a recession, the Afghanistan war, countless school shootings, movie theater violence, race riots, the fall of the housing market, Deep Horizon’s oil spill, and innumerable national disasters and tragedies, but now my generation that has faced so many things that we’ve developed a hardened shell of sarcasm in reaction to most things must face a new problem. And I have to say, this morning, I wished for my grandpa to tell me about the good old days.
With the number of those infected with COVID-19 rising by the day and in some cases by the hour, we as a global community, must make hard decisions that impact not only our own health and financial burdens but that of our family, friends, neighbors, towns, states, country and ultimately the world- talk about one heck of a butterfly effect.
It's a scary place to be in right now for sure, but I for one am not ready to write us off just yet. If I’ve learned nothing else from my tried and true upbringing as a millennial, it is that there is always a new day. We saw that in the days following the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, when our nation came together and stood as one behind our battered flag, raised our fists in the air and said “Never Forget”.
Despite our shock and disbelief, we stood together. Many of us thought that it would be impossible to come together as nation because of the vast differences in our political stances, religious beliefs, racial backgrounds, financial situations, and heck, geographical regions, but folks, we did. We as a nation did it again when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. We proved, yet again, that we could come together and grieved with the parents of the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. So yes, we have seen a lot of tragedies and hardships in our lifetimes, but we have also seen a lot of goodness, kindness, perseverance and pride.
Our nation’s great ability to unite has run like a steady silken thread throughout our lives. And it is time to do it again. This time our foe is all around us. In some cases, it's in us. We have got to come together and prove that we can beat this the way Americans have faced every challenge before, united.
Though it is hard, we must continue to be diligent about preventing the spread of the virus. We must balance common sense and precaution. We must look out for one another, and we need our leaders to do the same. W
ashington must put political party agendas aside and focus on the ultimate goal of protecting the American people that have been impacted by this sudden and unforgiving enemy. Feed the families that ultimately feed the economy. Now is not the time to pour energy into “clean energy” as it were. Now is not the time to pat the backs of CEO’s of major corporations because they are buddies. Now is the time to think about the people that cast votes. The huddled masses hurting because they are sick or have no income as a result of this virus.
Now is the time to recall the good old days, and I say that somewhat sarcastically because I never thought that I would think of the days following tragedies as “good old days”. My heart is yearning for those days right now when brotherly love flowed freely and our country had a palpable glow as we beamed with national pride. We need good news right now. We will come through this latest challenge, of that, I have no doubt, but I wonder how we will. It is my dearest hope and prayer that younger generations will look back on these days with pride at how our nation faced these tremulous days. That these days will be for them the "good old days".
