The Covid 19 pandemic seems to have raised controversies for which there are no perfect answers.
Just last night the governor of Arizona closed down certain types of businesses. Among them were bars, gymnasiums and certain other gathering places where people are bunched together in large groups – like the Salt River. In fact I heard that he withdrew the liquor licenses of seven drinking establishments in Scottsdale because customers weren't wearing masks or adhering to the social distancing requirement.
Now everyone has their own opinion and I'm no different. But a lot of the people who party in bars and group floats down the salt River are mostly under 40 years old and probably even less. And one of the things I've heard among my grandchildren (one of whom has the coronavirus) is that the coronavirus is something that won't affect them. And that's probably because the Centers for Disease Control statistics show that most victims of Covid 19 are people over 65. So, perhaps, younger people think the odds that they'll succumb to the virus is next to zero. But for three days during the last week over 30 people a day in our state were contracting the coronavirus, though I admittedly don't know what age group they were in.
In my opinion the reason that the United States has the highest incidence of Covid 19 in the world is that we are spoiled. I believe that many of us have the idea that the rules apply to others, not us. When I speak to my grandchildren about health issues like eating right or exercising they seem to think that rules for healthy living don't apply to them. Oh, they may agree with me. But for me agreeing is one thing, and practicing healthy and safe living is another.
A lot of people don't wear masks, practice safe sex, or wear seatbelts, because they think that bad things won't happen to them – just other people. But that isn't the way the world works. None of us thought six months ago that the world would be enveloped in a plague that the brightest minds in science haven't been able to resolve.
I believe that many of our young people have a sense of entitlement because they were raised by people who didn't teach them responsibility for anything – including their health. It seems like a large number of parents today want to be friends and buddies with their children. They don't realize that their primary job is to teach their children how to navigate a world that is sometimes very dangerous – as it is right now. I was very tough on the one daughter that I raised pretty much by myself. And she is one of the most self-sufficient and independent people I know. She served in the military – including Afghanistan – for three years, graduated from the Texas Culinary Academy, then obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Phoenix. And she did it all on her own and I believe it was because I didn't baby her as a child because I wasn't trying to be her friend – I was doing my best to be a responsible father. And I'm proud of the way she turned out.
I'm kind of going off in the weeds with this blog. But the bottom line is that those with a sense of entitlement, that don't think the rules apply to them, are among those who may contract the virus because they won't practice social distancing distancing or or wear masks.
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