Remember that oft-quoted passage from Dickens: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…”? All times are times of contrast. Today is no exception. Weigh this contrast:
1.General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Commander of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, said this morning that the US military intercepted Russian planes wandering near American airspace. Obviously, the Russians, who tried something similar a few weeks ago with the same result, were trying out American response capabilities and timing in a process reminiscent of the Cold War. O’Shaughnessy, a capable leader with an entire country’s defense on the line, has the military ready for such emergencies. Simultaneously, he has the responsibility of overseeing the disastrous consequence of the pandemic, especially in his having to move medical resources rapidly in response to critical needs. He reported that when one NY hospital had trouble with its oxygen equipment, the military responded as rapidly as they did during the Russian plane intercept, sending doctors and vehicles to move patients in dire need to other facilities.
2.Unnamed. Anonymous. Who cares, anyway? Someone who complains because life as it was known and practiced pre-pandemic isn’t what it once was: Celebrities locked in mansions and millennials locked out of bars and restaurants? Complainers and fault-finders of all sorts? Scapegoaters with political agendas? Remember "Get over It" by the Eagles?
When we look back, will we write, "They were the best of people; they were the worst of people"? The contrast: One guy acting fast to protect both Alaska and NY with an encompassing perspective that takes in a whole continent in contrast with another with a perspective limited by a mind that thinks an apartment, luxury condo, home, mansion, or neighborhood is the entire world. It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.
1.General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Commander of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, said this morning that the US military intercepted Russian planes wandering near American airspace. Obviously, the Russians, who tried something similar a few weeks ago with the same result, were trying out American response capabilities and timing in a process reminiscent of the Cold War. O’Shaughnessy, a capable leader with an entire country’s defense on the line, has the military ready for such emergencies. Simultaneously, he has the responsibility of overseeing the disastrous consequence of the pandemic, especially in his having to move medical resources rapidly in response to critical needs. He reported that when one NY hospital had trouble with its oxygen equipment, the military responded as rapidly as they did during the Russian plane intercept, sending doctors and vehicles to move patients in dire need to other facilities.
2.Unnamed. Anonymous. Who cares, anyway? Someone who complains because life as it was known and practiced pre-pandemic isn’t what it once was: Celebrities locked in mansions and millennials locked out of bars and restaurants? Complainers and fault-finders of all sorts? Scapegoaters with political agendas? Remember "Get over It" by the Eagles?
When we look back, will we write, "They were the best of people; they were the worst of people"? The contrast: One guy acting fast to protect both Alaska and NY with an encompassing perspective that takes in a whole continent in contrast with another with a perspective limited by a mind that thinks an apartment, luxury condo, home, mansion, or neighborhood is the entire world. It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.
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