COVID-19 who cares?
Take a few minutes and think about your favorite memories of your grandparents. I can remember visiting my grandparents during the summer. My dad’s parents lived in a college town. Their house was the same house that my dad and his brothers grew up in. I remember waking up to the sweet aroma of bacon and eggs coming from the kitchen. And in the evenings, I would sit on the front porch with my grandmother snapping fresh green beans from the garden watching the fire flies go by.
Unlike my paternal grandparents, my mother’s parents lived in the city in a condominium with a swimming pool. Every visit included my favorites, cherry pie, pound cake and of course, bacon! The afternoons were spent at the pool with my grandmother sitting on the deck watching my sisters and I enjoy the refreshing water on the hot summer day.
Consider your grandparents or anyone over 60 years old that is important to you. You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them would you? However, it is mainly our grandparents or anyone over 60 years old we are saving by following the COVID-19 mandates. Of the people dying from COVID-19, the majority are people over 60 years old. In Louisiana, 1900 of the 2200 deaths are in that age range. As an African American, the death rate from the disease is three times higher than whites. Even though 18-29 year olds are not dying, you are still contracting the disease, even though you may be asymptomatic, and if not following the guidelines, you are potentially passing the disease on to others.
Do you want to have the opportunity to make more fond memories? I have a family friend who, in only two weeks’ time, died from this dreaded disease, alone. His family and friends had the opportunity to make more memories stolen from them. I don’t know exactly how he contracted the disease, but I am sure that someone unknowingly and unintentionally passed it on.
If you don’t want this to happen to your grandparents wash your hands, stay six feet apart, wear a face covering or mask in public, and practice social distancing. When I choose to do these things, I am saving lives. We are saving lives.
It is counter-cultural when we love others as we do ourselves. Even though I have a higher chance to survive COVID-19 due to my age, I don’t want to unintentionally give it so someone else, because of my love for them.
John 15:17: This command I give to you, love one another
