Scott Swanson
Our Review of the Year, in this week’s edition, is a good opportunity to contemplate our recent past, and kind of get a grip on what really happened in a year that was definitely more up-beat than 2020, but still had its rough spots.
And, as we tell on page 1 of this issue, it ain’t over yet. Another round of the coronavirus is upon us and our state leaders are once again trying to figure out what to do about it.
If we were to try to come up with a one-word summary of 2021, we’d be hard-pressed. The past year was complicated, but it also was encouraging. Maybe that one word should be “resurgence.”
That was the name of the game for much of 2021. Despite occasional COVID setbacks, we enjoyed the return of many of our local events – brick-and-mortar school for kids – many of whom sorely needed it, athletic events, festivals, fundraisers, and much more. Normalcy.
It’s against that backdrop that we find ourselves once again watching another wave of coronavirus engulf us, this one the omicron variant. Sounds like a Robert Ludlum spy novel title.
One of the things we’ve all learned from the past couple of years is how un-nice we-all can be, and we’ve also learned that being the point man on making history is, well, difficult.
Calling the shots on the coronavirus certainly can subject one to public outrage or worse, which is likely why public officials seem more … delicate … these days in dictating policy for the rest of us. No one wants to be the bad guy, especially with an election year upon us, and thus we start with a strong recommendation from the state that schools halt extra-curricular activities for the next month.
Where that goes next remains to be seen, but as The New Era went to press very early Tuesday morning, the basketball games were still on for that evening and Sweet Home still planned to host wrestling later in the week.
Even state officials who early on seemed to be having trouble seeing past the numbers and the graphs, appear to recognize the damage the year-long shutdown of activities has had for many kids. Coaches and teachers almost universally attest to the mental, emotional, social and educational damage they say has been caused to youngsters by the shutdowns.
That’s why state health and education officials and OSAA, the organization that sanctions high school sports in Oregon, need to take all of this into very serious consideration before employing any more mandates.
Unfortunately, a lot of the issues in dealing with COVID-19 and its variants have become so politicized that common sense can easily get lost in symbolism and power plays. Google “what COVID-19 has shown us about ourselves” and you get close to 13 billion results. Obviously, we’re not the only ones thinking about this.
Some of the answers aren’t very pretty. Rationality and civil discussion of issues have taken some hard hits in the last two years, which is a dangerous thing for a democratic republic like ours. So have independence and individual freedom.
A famous quotation from Benjamin Franklin, from a letter he wrote, actually, has circulated widely in recent years: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” While we’re well aware that Ben might not have meant that the way many people are taking it today, in an era of video cameras and cellphones and Alexa, that doesn’t mean those words don’t apply to our current situation.
Government authority, like the proverbial camel with its nose in the tent, doesn’t retreat very easily when it gets a foothold and this coronavirus has given Oregon’s government plenty of opportunity for that, as we worry about infections and hospital capacity and the many other aspects of this experience. As health care workers and anyone who’s tried to get medical care for other ailments can attest, we’re experiencing very real, feet-on-the-ground issues.
Back to school: Teachers have suffered along with their students and further disruption of the normal flow of school isn’t going to do anything for the well-being of those to whom we’ve given the task of educating and training kids to be responsible adults.
There are no easy answers here, because whatever road is taken will have plenty of potholes. But with a new year in front of us, Oregonians would do well to consider where we’ve been and where we want to go – and take that to the polls.