Sounding off: Courageous leaders make hard decisions

The criticism of Gov. Tom Wolf by legislators, district attorneys and state representatives exposes the hypocrisy behind their “live free or die” recommendations that counties open businesses earlier than considered safe. We need to support leaders of courage who risk threats when they make unpopular, necessarily restrictive decisions.

This virus has brutally exposed the terrible inequities many people suffer every day. Nobody should starve, lose their housing or be denied access to health care. Fixing this will take time, but right now we need to assume that Wolf and Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine are acting responsibly on the best information available.

Freedom is important, but the knee-jerk “Don’t tread on me” reaction without access to the facts guiding Wolf’s actions is not only arrogant, it’s deadly.

Eileen Quigley, Bloomfield

Let’s keep our parks safe

Spending time outdoors and walking in Dormont Park is a crucial part of the day to my household during this very difficult time. It’s important that we all have space to reset. We head outside to refresh, de-stress, and go for a run or a walk after being stuck in the house all day.

I encourage people to use their local parks, but to continue to do so responsibly: maintain social distance, wear masks, do not use restricted playgrounds or spaces, and be respectful of others. Wearing masks keeps our neighbors and community safe from disease.

Even as we move into the yellow phase, no one can be sure when this will all end, or what the next phase will be, but I am sure I want to continue to use the outdoors in a safe and healthy way. We can work together to keep our parks open, safe and a relaxing environment for everyone.

Amy Constantine Kline, Dormont

Our radical ‘new normal’

Once this crazy time in our history stabilizes, the word “normal” will take on a radical, and sometimes alarming, new meaning.

Consider this: The real estate industry will take a huge hit. Companies, realizing how efficient their operations run by everybody working from home, will reconsider why they lease so much space and adjust.

Those same firms will rethink job descriptions, and working from home will become the norm in many cases. Fewer workers having to travel will affect gas station operators and the auto industry. Fewer cars, less gasoline, fewer parts, less jobs, etc. You get the picture.

This principle could or will be applied to many industries. Full employment will come up short, and I suspect working in a factory, like years ago, will be the norm for a lot of people to survive.

An obvious change will be companies coming back to the U.S. from offshore situations. We cannot be dependent on a foreign country, especially China.

Personally, I will never shake hands again. I predict the U.S. will adopt the Asian practice of wearing a mask for even a common cold. Social distancing will be practiced for a long time.

Making supplies stretch, making fewer trips to the grocery store, doing without those special treats longer, being more careful with money — these are just a few norms we will have to adopt. Sadly, many people will never recover their former lifestyles.

The greatest change for everyone should be the preservation and appreciation for what we have. When it goes away we suffer tremendously!

Archie Atkinson, Lower Burrell

Owning, confronting our racism

Before we offer up our “thoughts and prayers” for Ahmaud Arbery and his family (“Law enforcement ties, long delay complicate Ahmaud Arbery case”), perhaps we should think and pray about the fact that we live in a country where heavily armed white men storm state capitol buildings and are hailed as patriots, while unarmed black men are gunned down on our streets.

The pundits and politicians and attorneys will spin the February murder of Arbery in Georgia until we are so dizzy that we don’t know who or what to believe. We’ll be overwhelmed with phrases like “perceived threat” and “citizen’s arrest” and “stand your ground” until we’re so dizzy that right and wrong are blurred beyond recognition. Our irrational fears and prejudices will be stoked until we are so dizzy that the next murder of an unarmed black citizen becomes just another moment for thoughts and prayers.

In their November 2018 pastoral letter “Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love — A Pastoral Letter Against Racism,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops state that “the cumulative effects of personal sins of racism have led to social structures of injustice and violence that make us all accomplices in racism.”

Without action, our thoughts and prayers are hollow, self-serving rituals to ease our collective conscience. Indeed, the massacre of unarmed African Americans will continue unabated until we get serious about owning, confessing and confronting our own personal racism and our nation’s institutional racism.

Not sure where to start? Start by thinking and praying about one simple question: What if Ahmaud Arbery were your son?

Keith G. Kondrich, Swisshelm Park

Avoiding some of Pennsylvania’s ‘pain’

Reading Deb Erdley’s article “State lawmakers say there is pain ahead as coronavirus restrictions begin to ease,” the following thoughts came into my mind:

Before Pennsylvania politicians inflict any more pain on us in the form of more or higher taxes, they first must sell the turnpike and retail liquor stores for cash to help fill the revenue hole. They also need to decrease the size of our bloated “full time” state Legislature and make it part time.

The way public schools operate and are funded must change as well. Property taxes are an outdated and onerous model for funding this government unit. The way our children are educated is a 1950s model, meaning multimillion-dollar buildings and masses of yellow buses are obsolete in this era.

Corporate America is embracing technology to continue its businesses in a work-at-home environment, and this will continue. Next, they must legalize marijuana for recreational use to generate tax revenue.

We need huge changes in representation at all levels of our government. With the primary election coming soon, I will not vote for any incumbent and encourage others to do the same. We must be the catalyst for the changes sorely needed. Our politicians have failed us miserably.

Finally, this type of lockdown must never happen again. Comparing average annual flu cases and deaths worldwide for the past 10 years versus our current statistics for covid-19 leads me to think this current response is akin to killing a fly on your friend’s head with a sledgehammer.

John Shiock, Indiana

Social distancing is a dangerous experiment

I believe social distancing is an experiment on our emotional health. Humans need physical contact for our mental health, from babyhood through our adult lives. I fear social distancing will cause increases in spousal and child abuse, suicide, murders and other crimes.

When scientists studied babies in Romanian orphanages whose only human contact was when they were fed, bathed and changed — they were left to lie in cribs at a formative time when they needed human contact — they found that many of them suffered from social and emotional problems later in life.

As adults, when we are angry or upset, a handshake or hug can calm us. When we feel sad or hopeless, an arm around a shoulder can help simply by letting us know another human cares.

Social distancing may or may not protect people from covid-19, but it does nothing for their mental health, and I believe that is more important than the threat of passing along this virus.

As to masks, scientists don’t agree on whether wearing one will stop a person from contracting covid-19 or stopping the spread. In my opinion, it is social conditioning being pushed by individuals with a lust for power over the people. Not everyone can wear a mask. People like myself who already suffer from health problems cannot wear them. For the news media and others to question or shame them or refuse them entry into a business is tantamount to discrimination no different than shaming people for the color of their skin, hair or where they live.

John T. Watson, North Huntingdon

Back to normal at warp speed

“Operation Warp Speed” could be the new Trumpian slogan that ought to do the trick. That will show the pesky covid-19 who’s boss. We’ll simply ignore the raging pandemic and go back to normal. Vaccine by year’s end? Sure! It has been ordered. Miracle cures, silver bullets, magical thinking … that is what we are getting from our president.

America is No. 1! We now lead the world in covid-19 deaths, 92,333 on May 20. That’s not fake news, folks.

Charles Henry, Greensburg