SALUTING OUR HEROES ON MEMORIAL DAY 2020... AND ALWAYS!

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     As Americans, Monday, May 25th, 2020 is unlike any previous Memorial Day.  This year, we not only offer our heartfelt thanks to our armed forces veterans, and salute the memory of those courageous souls who gave their lives in the line of duty to fight for and preserve our freedoms, we also pay tribute to the frontline responders who are risking their lives everyday as we battle not a war to defend our country from a foreign enemy, but a war against a deadly virus.  Protecting us in that endeavor and caring for the suffering patients who have been afflicted by the Corona Virus Disease of 2019 - abbreviated as COVID-19 or simply coronavirus - is being a different kind of hero; one that uses medicine and tender loving care instead of machine guns and bullets.

     Doctors, nurses, hospital technicians and aides, paramedics/EMTs, police officers, firefighters, and other healthcare and emergency professionals are endangering themselves everyday so they can help people who are infected by the coronavirus, while they know full well that there is no definitive treatment, no cure, and no vaccine.  There are the scientists, and the laboratory technicians and research assistants who are spending every waking moment trying to find that treatment, that cure, and that vaccine.  These dedicated individuals - like our brave military personnel - deserve the gratitude of all Americans today, and everyday, as they each perform services above and beyond the call of duty.

     As America's defense forces have done for nearly two-and-a-half centuries - both in wartime and peacetime - frontline responders, during a public health crisis, make extraordinary sacrifices by freely devoting their efforts and their humanity to hopefully save the lives of people they don't know; perfect strangers.  When Americans wear a military uniform that displays the stars and stripes of our republic, they express patriotism and love of country.  We owe these bands of brothers and sisters our day-to-day liberties and our democracy.  But there are other ways to represent and honor the red, white and blue of the United States.  So like a battalion of soldiers, squads of physicians - along with other healthcare healers and angels of mercy - use stethoscopes and scrubs to aid in protecting their country - our country - and our flag.  Some drive ambulances, or fire engines, or they exhibit a badge.  And like our soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and guardsmen, each accepts the hazards of their job despite the possibility - that even while wearing protective gear - they could be shot, or they could be infected with a disease that can be fatal.

     Like military troops who could be ambushed in jungles and deserts overseas, and attacked with an adversary's heavy artillery and weapons of mass destruction, or by police officers who face criminals with assault weapons and pistols, or firefighters who enter a burning building so they can extinguish a raging blaze, healthcare providers treat patients who can be highly contagious.  All of these gallant collaborators of compassion are unselfish heroes.  We are a nation of people who proudly make America our home.

     Heroes save lives in many different ways.  They need not be in a combat zone or in a hospital zone.  They need not protect us by upholding the law, or by rescuing us from a flood or a stuck elevator.  Heroes need not use sirens, code blue crash carts, or armored vehicles on a battlefield.  For the most part of two months or longer, the COVID-19 pandemic self-quarantined Americans and kept them cooped up in their houses and apartments.  Recently, one after another, all 50 states began to reopen their economies after governors had closed down nonessential businesses.  But now, there are many people who still remain isolated from others because their bodies' weak immune systems make them more vulnerable and more susceptible to catching the coronavirus, or because they disagree with government officials - no matter the political affiliation - and feel it's not time yet to venture out in to the world, even if they social distance, wear masks, and wash their hands. 

     During a pandemic, we all need to eat.  We all need to get the necessary medicine that treats our chronic illnesses or reduces our pain.  So pharmacists, people working for grocery stores and food delivery services, postal carriers and the UPS and FedEx guys and gals, volunteers at food banks and pantries, plus charitable individuals all across America who generously give money and/or their time to assist others during a terrifying period in our lives, are all to be considered heroes.

     On this particular Memorial Day, lots of people deserve credit, and they deserve our recognition and appreciation.  On this Memorial Day, thank you to our U.S. veterans - past and present - for their distinguished service.  To my grandfathers, my father, my uncles, my cousins, my friends, and to anyone - men and women alike - who has served our country, I thank you.  The United States of America commemorates this day in your honor and we salute you.  But I'm sure you're willing to share this day with the COVID-19 frontline responders, and anyone else who is opening his or her heart, to help others.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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