PRELUDE: The COVID experience
Not everyone has the luxury of "safer at home." At the worst of times, there were folks out braving the pandemic to provide aides and services, in order for the general public to sustain some semblance of normalcy in our daily lives. I salute them. I especially salute those in health, safety, and law enforcement, who continued to serve and protect in the midst of mob resentment and mistrust. Public pressure to "defund the police" led to a $150 million cut from LAPD's budget. As the news continues to report drive-by killings, racial hate crimes, and just senseless violence all the time, heed that no one but criminals shall benefit from less law enforcement. Insanely, Texas has started a bill to do away with gun licensing. Someday cops could be out-gunned at the OK corral.
Praise the Lord, COVID vaccines were developed in record speed of less than a year. The FDA forewent its normal red-tapes, averaging 8 years, and immediately allowed them for emergency use in December 2020. By December, US COVID deaths reached 300,000+, and yet, as seen on Youtube, many Trump groupees continued to risk endangering themselves and others rather than complying with masking up. The 2nd wave of COVID deaths started to climb in October 2020 and hit a crescendo in mid-January 2021. The hike was mostly attributed to gatherings during the winter holidays, but did all those bare faced attendees at Trump’s pre and post election rallies really escape the virus unscathed?
"O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His Grace on thee!"
