D-Day

It will soon be June 6^th, the anniversary of D-Day.  As I understand history, not all Americans agreed with entry into World War II.  There was a significant isolationist sentiment.  There was even a small pro-German sentiment.  But as a country under attack we came together, resolved to defeat the Axis powers. Three years into the war, there was not unanimous agreement regarding the best strategy for defeating Germany.  But leadership stepped forward and agreed upon a coordinated plan to storm the beaches at Normandy. In World War II, Liberals and Conservatives, Democrats and Republicans came together unified in purpose and resolve. America was united and America was great.

Of all that I found disheartening this past year, it was the politization of the Covid pandemic.  How different this country would be today if Liberals and Conservatives, Democrats and Republicans had put aside partisanship, stood together, and acknowledged that we were at war with an enemy that, as it has turned out, has taken almost 600,000 American lives.  We should have been united in purpose and resolve, each of us soldiers battling an invisible and invading enemy.  Tragically, there were no FDR’s and no Eisenhower’s to unite us and lead us through this Covid war.

Recently, I saw what I think is the most insipid and stupid T-shirt I have ever seen.  “Wearing masks is slavery.”  Not surprisingly, the T-shirt was worn by an angry looking white guy. Slavery . . . really?  More recently, Representative (sadly) Marjorie Taylor Greene topped that with her ignorant and offensive comparison of wearing masks to the holocaust in Nazi Germany.

Prior to D-Day I don’t imagine that all the generals were in 100% agreement. The battle plans were imperfect and sometimes required revision and improvisation.  I doubt that every foot soldier agreed with their officers, but I doubt that any wore T-shirts of protest while landing on the beaches.  I doubt that any suggested that the decisions on the battlefield should be left to the good judgment of the individual, and that the orders of battle were an impingement on civil rights, let alone a form of slavery.

The battle against Covid should have been fought with a sense of unity, patriotic duty, and willingness to sacrifice.  Obviously, that did not happen.  And now that we begin the process of unmasking and resuming a semblance of normal, the squabbling continues.  The directions for how to proceed remain confusing and contentious.

America, during World War II, exemplified the potential greatness of this country.  Ironically, for all the pro-Trump bluster about making America great again, the opportunity to do so was lost this past year. Unlike WWII, we failed to meet the Covid challenge with unified purpose and resolve.  We tragically lost more of our countrymen to Covid than to battle deaths in WWII.  In 2021 we are an angry and disgruntled nation, a nation at low ebb, our democracy teetering on the edge. That was the great tragedy of 2020.