World War III
I am coming to you as a son of a career navy officer and World War II veteran.
I am in my 49th year of teaching with the last 13 years as a professor for Ivy Tech Community College. Prior to that, I taught 33 year in Seymour Community Schools coming from Greater Clark County Schools, where I taught three years at Ewing Lane Elementary School. I bring a different perspective to our country’s situation since I recently was tested for the coronavirus and put on mandatory quarantine for one or two weeks or until I get my test results back.
It has been said by a number of experts and commentators that we need to go on a war footing. My perspective is that we are in World War III. The difference being instead of the enemy being other countries, the enemy is nature itself. In most wars, there are neutral nations that do not take sides in a war. In this case, there are no neutral nations. This virus hits every nation the same.
Some steps have been taken to address this problem but not quickly enough without costing lives. We are only at the tip of the iceberg to this point. We need to go on a complete war footing with all resources that can be brought to bear to combat this deadly enemy. I just hope what is being done is not too little, too late. I feel our government at the federal level has been gaslighting us early on. It is only now that they have understood the seriousness of the situation. I pray with every fiber in my being that it is not too late.
I think the coronavirus taskforce has been very good at explaining to all elements of our society how to understand the seriousness of this situation. If the youth of this country do not take this to heart, we will lose a generation of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Dr. Fouchi and Dr. Burke have both amplified this message to the younger generation.
What is significant in today’s taskforce news conference is that there is now troubling information coming out of France and Italy that they have seen an influx of those that are younger are being severely affected. I do not know why there was a time lag for this now to be happening, but this is added reason why the younger ones in our society need to take this seriously.
Just like in World War II, the country had to come together to ensure victory over the evil of Germany and Japan. We need to do the same. I hope that you are doing your part to make this happen. When I was growing up, citizenship was a part of the curriculum in all schools. It still ought to be the case, but this sadly is not the case in most cases. We need to be good citizens and do our part. I challenge you do so. If we all will do our part, then we will ultimately defeat this virus and go on to our regular lives whether young or old or somewhere in between. God bless each of you, and please do your part to stay safe.
(Editor’s note: Daniel Drummond recently received his test results for COVID-19. Those results were negative.)
Daniel Drummond is an adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College and a resident of New Albany. Send comments to [email protected].