The Newsleaders
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Sartell – St. Stephen
    • St. Joseph
    • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Column
    • Editorial
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Community
    • Calendar
    • Citizen Spotlight
    • Criers
    • People
  • Notices
    • Funerals/Visitations
    • Obituary
    • Police Blotter
    • Public Notices
    • Support Groups
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Submissions
  • Archives
    • Sartell-St. Stephen Archive
    • St. Joseph Archive
  • Advertise With Us
    • Print Advertising
    • Digital Advertising
    • 2021 Promotions
    • Pay My Invoice
The Newsleaders
No Result
View All Result

PineCone Pet Hospital MillerCarlin Serving all of central Minnesota locations!

Albany: 320-845-2035
Holdingford: 320-746-9994
St. Cloud: 320-252-7004
Upsala: 320-573-6234
Toll-free: 1-800-644-4058
Collegeville Stearns Bank
Home Opinion Column

Much to honor, to mourn, on these dark days

May 29, 2020
in Column, Opinion, Print Editions, Print Sartell - St. Stephen, Print St. Joseph
0
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

These days, my neighbors and I sit on the lawn and yell at one another.

No, we’re not arguing. We’re doing the new normal – social distancing. But communication is difficult because we are so hard-of-hearing we’re next door to deaf.

And so we sit far apart and yell our heads off.

“What did you say? I can’t hear you with that TRAIN roaring by! Speak LOUDER!”

“I said, ‘It’s kind of humid today.’’’

“WHO did WHAT today?”

“No, no, NO! HUMID. It’s HUMID today.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. It IS!”

By this fall, we’ll probably all be sitting there screaming at one another through those big ear funnel-trumpets or maybe by then we’ll all be fitted, finally, with hearing aids. I keep hearing in my head my parents’ frequent admonition of years ago when they’d have a snootful: “Nobody’s gettin’ any younger. And that old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be.”

Thus, here we are adapting in our own ways to this new reality caused by a vicious invisible virus.

As a reporter covering CV-related stories, I’m so impressed with the many people who are adapting inventively. They are using true grit, ingenuity, creativity, makeshift methods and extraordinary kindness and courtesy toward others to ease them and others through sometimes long, lonely, anxious hours. There are parents and children all home together doing their jobs or learning via computers as they discover and rediscover fun ways to be together, to have fun, to bond. There are dedicated teachers connecting online to at-home students. There are volunteers delivering lunches to students and to elderly and/or medically compromised folks who must self-isolate as virtual shut-ins.

The constant courage of those on the front lines of the battle against CV is awe-inspiring – all of those doctors, nurses and medical technicians who are often exhausted physically and emotionally after long work shifts.

Then there are those caught between a rock and a hard place, the ones who cannot work from home, who go to their jobs because they must go – either out of a sense of undying dedication or because they need the money, paycheck to paycheck, to pay the bills and feed their families.

Then there are those workers – oh so many of them – whose jobs have vanished or who are laid off, perhaps permanently. Millions of them have lost their health insurance along with their jobs. Imagine the terror they must be feeling. And let’s also remember all the small-business owners who find themselves in a terrible financial pinch, forcing them to let their employees go as they agonize whether or not their businesses will even survive.

Of course, even sadder than the economic devastation are all the people who have died, cut down so swiftly, so cruelly by that hideous virus: spouses, parents, grandparents, nurses, doctors, nursing-home residents, military veterans, transportation workers, even some little children. It goes on and on, this ghastly parade of death. More than 100,000 victims. And still counting.

It’s impossible to fathom the sheer extent of that kind of suffering and sorrow when people are unable to comfort, to hug or to say goodbye in person to precious loved ones at the brink of death. Even the mourning process at funerals is not possible in these dark days.

This pandemic is such a heavy burden in so many complicated ways for so many people. It’s no wonder – with all the pent-up anxieties – that people want to bust out of their isolation and all this social distancing and join others for a grand old time. There’s nothing normal about this new normal; people are social creatures, meant to be together. Let’s hope the darkness will pass, that the gloom and doom will soon be vanquished by a brimming, celebratory life force.

In the meantime, let’s wear masks and continue social distancing. And let’s thank and pay honor to all these everyday heroes who are finding such ingenious, generous ways in getting us all through these toughest of times.

Previous Post

Certificate of assumed name: Drakes Fine Food and Spirits

Next Post

May 29 Sartell police blotter

Next Post

May 29 Sartell police blotter

Please login to join discussion

CMCU Twitter Follow us on
Twitter
for the latest news!
Facebook Follow us on Facebook
for the latest news!
calendar Click here
to view our
calendar
of events!

Go Fund Me # 1 Thank You
Newsleader
Supporters!
Elizabeth Brunsvold
Cultural Connections
Jim Berg & Mary Kruger
Mary & John Davis
Sandy Denne
Bobbi & David Gouker
James & marry Graeve
Juliana Howard
Julia Joplin
Linda Kmitch
M. Molus
Sheila Nahan
Go Fund Me # 2 Thank You
Newsleader
Supporters!

Peggy & Michael Roske
Judy Scheuerell
Geraldine Schwab
James Stotko
James Towler
Anna Trobec
Kaye Wenker
Ellen Wahlstrom
Leona Wieland
Jeanie Wilkens
GAGEN & VASUGI RAMANATHAN
Go Fund Me # 3 Thank You
Newsleader
Supporters!
Nicole Borg
Erica Karger-Gatzow
Dane & Lori Listug-Lunde
Nadine Martin
Doris Minnerath
Merry Mund
Marilyn Peitso
Stephen Schwanke
Dianne Tuff
Dale Zacher
Private Donors

Search

No Result
View All Result

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Winter fun at Snowfest
  • Foundation sponsors I Love to Read Giveaway
  • Free frozen meals available for senior citizens
  • Kluesner sworn into St. Joseph City Council
  • Local artists serve up art by the slice

City Links

Sartell
St. Joseph
St. Stephen

School District Links

Sartell-St. Stephen school district
St. Cloud school district

Chamber Links

Sartell Chamber
St. Joseph Chamber

Community

Calendar

Citizen Spotlight

Criers

People

Notices

Funerals/Visitions

Obituary

Police Blotter

Public Notices

Support Groups

About Us

Contact Us

News Tips

Submissions

Advertise With Us

Print Advertising

Digital Advertising

2021 Promotions

Local Advertising Rates

National Advertising Rates

© 2021 Newleaders

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Sartell – St. Stephen
    • St. Joseph
    • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Column
    • Editorial
    • Letter to the Editor
  • Community
    • Calendar
    • Citizen Spotlight
    • Criers
    • People
  • Notices
    • Funerals/Visitations
    • Obituary
    • Police Blotter
    • Public Notices
    • Support Groups
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Submissions
  • Archives
    • Sartell-St. Stephen Archive
    • St. Joseph Archive
  • Advertise With Us
    • Print Advertising
    • Digital Advertising
    • 2021 Promotions
    • Pay My Invoice

© 2021 Newleaders

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In