“You can go your own way,” I could hear Lindsey Buckingham pleading from the speakers owned by a middle aged couple who were having a a Memorial day weekend picnic lunch. For the Sunday before Memorial Day it was eerily still at Dietz Stadium for this gorgeous May day. It is the weekend that has traditionally been the official opening of summer and the kids are usually taking their first plunge in the pool. In days gone by, I would have been in the middle of my third consecutive day of golf and getting ready for a cocktail down on the water front. But this is the year of the Wuhan Virus and all things have a different look. On this weather perfect Sunday I was doing what I call “My old man walk,” four times around the perimeter of the Dietz Stadium Complex.
That adds up to two miles and since my days of running are behind me this exercise has become my reality. I am surprised that not even a dozen people are getting a workout in while enjoying the splendor of the sun and fresh air. There were about a half a dozen kids and another six or seven adults including myself. There were plenty of masks, and yes, plenty of social distancing.
It has been over two months since this global pandemic has had New York State buttoned down tighter than a sailboat in turbulent waters. There were no lacrosse or track practices going on, there was no splashing from the city pool right next to the stadium, and there was no communication between those doing their workouts. This is still the way life looks in my world living in the time of the Coronavirus. Two and a half months later restaurants and small businesses are still closed, people have not returned to work and we sit listening to orders from on high as to whether or not we can go in the water, have a drink at a bar, get a haircut, or return to work.
Despite typically being a rebellious zealot I have done my best to respect the guidelines our gov’t has laid out during this challenging time. I have masks, back up masks, hand cleansers, and my office has been closed for two months. I am home every night before the street lights go on and I am mindful that others are big believers in big gov’t and are going to nod at everything big brother tells them. With the month of May passing us by I confess to losing my patience in regard to personal liberty. There was the trip planned for the Cayman islands that was cancelled, the several golf tournaments I participate in annually, all cancelled. Before this virus I daily visited restaurants and bars to converse and socialize on a daily basis. When the shutdown was announced I made a thousand dollar bet that New York State would be open by May One.
It has been a month since I lost by wager and the word from on top was maybe restaurants will be open by June 15. I am putting it here in writing that I am no longer being one of the sheep listening to our Almighty Governor pontificate and lecture on what I can or can’t do. Although the record proves that Andrew Cuomo did the worst job of any Governor in the United States I do not want to arbitrarily place blame on the amount of damage this virus has caused. It is not Cuomo fault, it is not Trump’s fault, it is not the scientists fault. The blame lies at the feet of the Communist Government of China and the World Health Organization who colluded with the Chinese Government and tried to cover up their negligence in warning the world of the virus. The amount of blood that has been spilled in the world is on the hands of China.
At this point I am convinced that while the Corona virus is not a hoax, it has been way overplayed by the liberal press, who appear determined for the virus to be the latest ticket to bring down the president. The fact that most every red state is open and most every blue state is shut down speaks volumes of how political this has become. The media as usual has set its labels and guidelines as to how the sides are divided. If you resist wearing a mask, or took gov’t ppp money to pay employees during the virus, or you are not following God Cuomo executive orders you are surely a Trump supporter. If you stay hidden in your house, act like the social distance police when you are out, or are inwardly rooting for this mess to continue you are surely a Biden supporter. Even if in some cases these generalization are true the thought the there are sides in regards to the way we are handling this pandemic is sad.
In my opinion we are to the point in every state that we should allow individual businesses and individuals to begin making their own decisions. The goal was to flatten the curve, and make sure we had enough hospital availability to handle the amount of patients infected by the virus. We have accomplished that goal and dragging this on is just plain political bullshit. This is a free country, Andrew Cuomo does not make law, Dr. Anthony Fauci does not make the laws. Not that I ever would pay attention to a charlatan like Cuomo, I am officially telling him to stuff his masks and ventilators up his big fat nostrils. Don’t worry Andy it will all fit.
This pandemic, and its effects, are different for each individual. Let’s be honest with ourselves, for some the shutdown has been one big happy payed vacation. For others it has been an employment and economic disaster. On the worse end of it is those in the medical profession and those who either fought off the virus or lost loved ones to the virus. My dad went into a nursing home voluntarily on March 10th. Between then and the day he died (April 12) Coronavirus patients were moved into that nursing home under the direction of Andrew Cuomo. From my perspective this flawed decision by the governor was the immediate cause of my dad’s death. Family was not allowed into the nursing home under any circumstances yet coronavirus patients were put in the same room as my dad who was suffering from congestive heart failure. We know of at least 5,000 cases similar to my dad’s and I can’t help but put the blame on a Governor many people in this state want to anoint God. New York State by far has has the most cases of the virus and the most deaths related to it. Cuomo has listened to the scientists, who, he admits gave him too many inflated doom day scenarios. Cuomo set the economy, the hospitals, and nursing homes up for failure during this pandemic. So while he was on television everyday talking to his sheep like some ivory tower academic, people in his state were dying at a faster rate than any other. All perspectives matter, from mine Andrew Cuomo gets an A in making sheep bop their head and an F in saving lives.
Phase one (of the steps to opening up) began in New York State yesterday. I can imagine you asking what does that mean? It means if you are in construction, manufacturing, a hunter, or a fisherman you are good to go in New York. If you want to see your insurance agent, eat in a restaurant, have a drink at the bar, or go to church you are stilling waiting for permission from Mommy Cuomo. How long does the government think free independent thinking people are going to put up with this . If you are afraid then stay home. If you are elderly or sick then stay home. All others not in those categories should be free to make choices on what risks they want to take. There is a balance in this life of taking care of yourself first while at the sane time considering the safety and health of others. It is way past time to get back to the business of America which is mostly business and eating out in restaurants. If you are afraid now you are probably a person who is normally afraid of all risks. I understand being afraid, but how about some sympathy for the people who are not afraid and want to get on with their businesses and lives with some semblance of the way it use to be. There is plenty of Monday morning quarterbacking to be done and too many mistakes made by us all to even count. The plan that was sold to me was: two weeks of quarantine so we can flatten the curve and minimize the deaths this pandemic could potentially cause. Those two weeks pasted months ago and yet I still sit here in my office alone at two o’clock in the afternoon.
Several days after my Sunday walk I was back at Dietz stadium making futile attempts at keeping my boyish figure. My exercise path takes me past the basketball court and for the first time I notice the hoop rims have been dismantled from the backboards. The night before I was talking with an official from the Kingston City Hospital. I asked my friend how the hospital was holding up under the strain of the Coronavirus. After a long chuckle and smile he said something that made be smile but was extremely annoying. “Currently we do not have a single Coronavirus patient in the hospital, not a single one, and that’s been the case for about a week now.
In other words there may be zero cases of the Coronavirus in Kingston, yet kids can’t play basketball and a person can’t go into a bar for a drink. I am not calling this situation a hoax, I am not saying we didn’t need to take drastic precautions to flatten the curve of this dreaded disease. I am saying that it is well pass time to start opening up every state completely. Churches and schools need to get back to preaching and teaching. Life is made up of continual risks and hazards, I have never been one to play it safe. This country is about protecting the rights of all individuals, not about being given executive orders from corrupt politicians. It is now all about how much control the government can impose upon its citizens. I understand most people are sheep and Governor Cuomo is their perfect Shepherd. He sees himself as all knowing with a silver tongue, and the sheep of New York keep baaahhing in his pasture. It is well past time for me to go my own way.
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