Spring Break

 A year ago, it was "their new hoax." Those were the words of the then "president" and former gameshow host describing the pandemic that was a wave cresting just outside the U.S. It was on March 9, 2020 that the Lord of the Cheetos tweeted (because he had an account back then): "So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"

I'm thinking about it now. A year after we sent our kids home for what we all believed was a prolonged Spring Break. A couple extra weeks for the storm to pass. We would all go home and catch up on our Netflix and be back ready to go in April. The "hoax" did not let that happen. I feel a little ashamed of the time I spent in the days leading up to that day a year ago, admonishing kids that wearing a mask in school really isn't necessary. We'll all be fine. 

I didn't want to panic anyone. Or send the wrong message. If I could go back now, I would tell them that we were still unsure about the science, but we needed to be sure so every precaution was a good one. Staying home from crowded places like school and playgrounds was being proactive. And those masks? Get used to them. You'll get used to the smell, and the clammy feeling against your cheeks. We'll figure out a way to keep you learning, but we want you to stay alive so we have someone to teach. Then we ran inside and made copies of worksheets in a flurry never before seen, and started to imagine what online, or distance learning, might look like. But that wouldn't really be necessary unless this thing lasted more than a few weeks, right? 

On the flipside, I am glad that I did take the opportunity to shut down some of the racist hate talk that started percolating at that same moment. "Don't go to Chinatown," I heard one fourth grader insisting to his pals, "Chinese people are the only ones who can get it." This assertion came fast on the heels of the Cheeto Lord's practice of referring to COVID-19 as a Chinese problem, gearing up for months of insisting that there were bad guys in all of this and they should be referred to in the ugliest Nationalistic terms. 

Maybe I should have made the point louder, given the number of attacks on Asian Americans over the past several weeks, months after Lord Cheeto slithered out of office. More than half a million Americans have died. Most of them were not of Asian descent. America continues to hold on to their lead among all nations when it comes to death rate and overall number of cases. 

It didn't need to be so bad. We would not be struggling to find our way back from the longest Spring Break ever. We could see friends and visit places without fear of contagion. We might have been vaccinated in a timely, orderly fashion. To paraphrase the wisdom of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "when the hoax becomes fact, print the hoax." That's what The Cheeto did. 

A year later, we're still paying the price.