Well, it appears official! This week the COVID death toll in the United States appears to have exceeded 600,000 individuals and more than three million deaths worldwide! That is scary! With more than 500 cases and 10 deaths in San Saba County, it certainly has hit close to home.
At least one of the San Saba deaths was an acquaintance of mine, someone I liked and admired for his sense of humor and his ready graciousness, and whose wife I still consider a good friend. COVID has hurt so many!
I grieve for my friend and also for Mrs. Rogers who wrote a letter to the editor two weeks ago when I was in Arkansas and Missouri. My condolences extend to her and to all the families of other San Saba victims.
My family was somewhat lucky, I guess. My niece had COVID but survived. We also think my sister contracted it in Greece in November of 2019 before it had been identified here and elsewhere. She had all the classic symptoms and she recovered after more than a month, only when a doctor in desperation prescribed asthma steroid inhalers for a couple of weeks.
We lost my last surviving maternal aunt, who was almost 100 years old, and a distant paternal cousin from Missouri. Not sure if either was COVIDrelated or simply broken hearts at being left alone and isolated in their nursing homes. It so hurts to be unable to share in their last days and to be unable to attend funerals. It hurts to be unable to say goodbye and to not have closure. It hurts! Needless to say, I have had my shots and am grateful for them.
I continue to pray that those American citizens who have not yet had the shots rethink their reticence and get their shots! They need to be protected as both the former president and the current president and their families are, and as my family and I are. I can testify that the new needles are so fine that you are not aware when the injec tion is inserted. Get your shots, pulleeaasse!
I have been accused of being bitter! I am not bitter, but I am a good American who understands the Constitution and all its incredible rights and the attendant responsibilities. At one point in my history, I was a graduate student in government and I continue to monitor most news sources, both liberal and conservative, and attempt to be knowledgeable about that of which I speak.
The right to vote and to have that vote honestly and honorably counted is something so few in this world have. For the state legislatures to be attempting to limit or take away that right is disheartening and despicable.
All the veterans we honored last week on Memorial Day deserve so much better. In World War II, in Korea, in Vietnam, in Iraq and Afghanistan – black, brown, native Americans, Asian, Hispanic, white – they all fought and many, many died for that very right!