EDUCATED BRAINS

"I suppose that when we have our brains blown out it would be better if they were educated brains. It would make more of an impression on our enemies. After all, we don't want Uncle Sam to be ashamed of his boys do we?"  Angelo Adams in a letter written from University of Illinois, to Betty Ann Russell in Chicago, December 1941

Angelo Adams 1943 before going overseas

 

    These words from my father keep coming through to me lately. Of course he was talking about LITERALLY getting his brains blown out – by enemies outside our country. Enemies who were all the way across two different oceans. All semester he wrote nearly daily letters to my mother back in Chicago and then suddenly they were all about whether to join up or wait for the draft. About final exams and coming home for Christmas but maybe stop on the way home to have his physical. Or wait to finish school so Hitler's army could blow out his educated brain.

    I'm writing today because those words from my father have haunted me for a few weeks. Because I've realized how naive I was back in June 2015 when Trump came down that escalator and said all those hateful words. At the time, I figured that people like me, descended from immigrants, with fathers and uncles who went to war against those enemies across oceans would see and hear those hateful words the way I did. And then he said more hateful words and I kept thinking maybe now all those people who claim to follow Jesus would be horrified. But no. They still voted for him. And then he was inaugurated and the hateful and so-called America-first POLICIES began. Not one of which could possibly be justified as Christian or even christian. Some of which were actually harmful to the people who voted for him. They didn't seem to care or notice all the ways he was hurting them – as long as he was hurting the people they hated.

    And now here we are. In the middle of a pandemic. And I see how naive I was back in March 2020 when I thought surely everyone would see that wearing a mask, "social distancing" and even a short-term "shut-down" would save the lives of Americans. 

BUT NOW THERE ARE TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND AMERICANS DEAD.

Oh, their brains are not getting blasted out by enemies, although the coronavirus often attacks the brain in ways not yet understood.

    Americans are dying by the thousands because of the failures of this president. Americans are dying by the thousands because somehow he convinced the people who voted for him and for the representatives and senators and governors who are afraid to stand up to him – he convinced all of them that TO PROVE THEIR LOYALTY TO HIM, THEY CAN NOT WEAR A MASK DURING A PANDEMIC. 

    LOYALTY TO HIM was more important than loyalty to their own loved ones. They seem to take pride in maintaining their ignorance. As if denying the existence of the virus would protect them. As if denying that the policies of the president were harmful would protect them from job losses.

    I'm a little embarrassed by my naive faith that people I know and love would climb out of their denial bunker and understand that wearing a mask was NOT a political statement. For me, it had nothing to do with politics.

    For me, wearing a mask was a way to fight back against a microscopic, invisible ENEMY. I know that wearing my mask doesn't so much protect me as it might protect you. I remember how I never got strep throat but my kids often did which made me wonder if I was a carrier. I remember how I actually had MMR infections as a child; and as a child of the 50s & 60s, I was also vaccinated against MMR. But still, my Rubella antibody level is negative. I read information from trusted sources so I know that any one of us could be the next coronavirus victim and that even when we get a vaccine, it's unlikely to be 100% effective.

My Dad and Grandmother, 1947. Northwestern University graduation.

    I've written thousands of words about my father, including a whole website documenting his military service. He returned in May 1945. Thanks to the GI Bill, he enrolled at Northwestern that Fall to finish what he started at U of I in September 1940 – with 62 transferable credits plus 18 military credits. Then graduated from Northwestern 7 quarters later, in June 1947, with the educated brain he fought to preserve. Having married my mother in 1942, by 1947 they were ready to start their family. For the next five decades he offered the chance for educated brains to me and my six siblings.

Me with my parents at my high school graduation. 

Me at my college graduation.

      

    I've spent the 22 years since his death trying to understand my father's many mistakes and lies (mostly lies of omission) so I'm fully aware of his imperfections. It's an understatement to say we had a very difficult relationship. Among our many differences, I'm pretty sure we never voted for the same presidential candidate. As the former accountant/banker/real estate developer, he might have voted for Trump, the so-called business and real-estate tycoon. Or who knows, maybe he would have seen straight through Trump's lies? Hard to say. 

    What I do know about my father is that he spent much of his income on our educations. And I know how he felt about infectious diseases. He knew his Uncle Angelo died (in Greece before my father was born) from influenza in the 1917-1919 pandemic. He knew the death of his father's brother was the reason my grandfather returned to Greece after 10 years in the States, serving in the U.S. Army and becoming a citizen. 

1926 S.S. Moreas manifest showing my Dad held for scarlet fever.

    I remember his worry when my own daughter had scarlet fever. Both of my parents told stories of scarlet fever quarantine signs on houses when they were growing up. In fact when my father arrived from Greece with his father in 1926, they were held at Ellis Island for scarlet fever observation. One of his nephews contracted polio before that vaccine was available. He knew about family members up and down the family tree who were born, lived with, and even died due to mostly preventable diseases. And while he made light of his own brushes with malaria during the war and later on even denied his own health issues; I witnessed his strong reactions when other people suffered. I also know that he did not subscribe to the herd immunity (or "mentality" if you're Trump) theory of 2020 coronavirus anti-maskers. I know this because he got very angry at my mother when she took us to visit cousins who were all sick with one of the various childhood diseases.

   I have NO REGRETS for the time I've spent since March 2020 employing preventive measures against coronavirus. I don't regret hand sanitizer. I don't regret coughing or sneezing into my sleeve. I don't regret staying safe at home. I don't regret wearing a mask. Sure I'm tired of it all but I don't regret it. I don't regret avoiding anti-maskers like I would avoid the plague. I do regret being naive and thinking the anti-maskers would come around. I know that supporters of the president don't agree with the way I see this president. I keep thinking about all of the president's lies and all the actions he could have and should have taken to reduce the spread of coronavirus. I keep thinking about the MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DEAD AMERICANS AND THEIR FAMILIES. I keep thinking about all the cases of coronavirus that could have been avoided IF ONLY the anti-mask folks had cared about their fellow Americans.

    There are no guaranteed ways to prevent coronavirus infections. Staying six feet away from each other isn't necessarily a preventive measure. Neither is virtual education. Neither is virtual working. Wearing a mask seems to be the BEST method for preventing the spread. Seems to me that the best way to stop the spread is to wear masks in combination with the other methods. I understand that having an educated brain doesn't necessarily confer immunity against coronavirus but having and using our educated brains surely helps understand the value of masks. Our educated brains should be able to understand it's just common sense.

And really

Ignorance is not bliss. 

It's deadly.

    😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷        😷

Note: I think I've shared the link to my WW2 work before, but here it is anyway. You might note that it uses "Honeylights" too, just like this personal blog. That's because as flawed as our father was and in spite of the difficult relationships he had with his seven offspring, we often thought of him as our "Great Captain" reflected in the quote from the Odyssey: "Great Captain, a fair wind and the honey lights of home are all you seek." 

This is a photo of a plaque we gave our father on our trip to Greece in 1988. See the very first post on this blog which is about a trip to Greece in 2009. I used this photo.

 http://honeylights.blogspot.com/2009/05/going-to-greece.html

Here's the link to my WW2 site: http://www.honeylightsletters.com