How would you feel to learn that the entire population of Berkeley, California had been wiped out in an epidemic? Or the entire population of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Or Norman, Oklahoma. Or Erie, Pennsylvania. Or Portsmouth, Virginia. Or Green Bay, Wisconsin. Or any number of other medium size cities across the breath of this country.
As stated in the headlines of yesterday’s edition of The New York Times, this is an incalculable loss. And I venture to add that it has been an unnecessary loss. As people in this country continue to hunker down and self-quarantine themselves alienated from their families and their friends, the man responsible for this situation, the man who called it a hoax when the virus first appeared on our shores, a man who has suggested that people try cures that would put them at serious risk of death, a man who points his finger at everyone but himself to place blame for the pandemic, retreats to play golf at his private club in Virginia that most Americans would not be allowed to join or visit.
So how does this man choose to commemorate Memorial Day 2020? He will attend the traditional annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery as most presidents have done in the past. At present the cemetery is open only to families with relatives interred there and all visitors entering the cemetery are required to wear an appropriate face covering. But will the President of the United States? He has gone on record that they are unnecessary and has steadfastly refused to wear one at public events where they are required. He will lay a wreath and mumble of few platitudes he neither believes nor even comprehends, and that will be that.
He has also chosen to travel later in the day with the First lady to Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, "to honor the American heroes who have sacrificed their lives serving in the US Armed Forces." Had he not already done that at Arlington Cemetery? Baltimore’s Mayor Jack Young has requested that the President not come. "That President Trump is deciding to pursue non-essential travel sends the wrong message to our residents, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 virus. I wish that the President, as our nation’s leader, would set a positive example and not travel during this holiday weekend," pointing out that young people have had to give up their proms and graduations. Families have had to postpone weddings and funerals. Why must he visit Fort McHenry? A leader should lead by example.
The president’s visit sends a dangerous message to local citizens in our state which is still one of the major hot spots of the coronarius pandemic, a state where there has been over 46,000 confirmed cases and almost 1,200 deaths as the numbers continue to climb (nearly a quarter of the cases and a third of the deaths are in my Maryland county alone).
Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who also in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Governors Association, has frequently been at odds with the President over the lack of suitable federal assistance to the states during the pandemic, as well as the premature call to open states while the virus continues to spread unchecked. Nevertheless, Governor Hogan has called it an honor for the State of Maryland that the President has decided to come to Baltimore to commemorate Memorial Day. "We are honored that the president and the first lady have chosen to spend Memorial Day at Fort McHenry. Although Marylanders are encouraged not to gather in large numbers this year - now more than ever - it's important to reflect on the American heroes who sacrificed their lives for our freedom." Hogan, interestingly enough, has chosen not to attend in order to spend the holiday with his family . . . something the President would be wise to do.
What is the sense of this ill-advised visit since the fort, a National Monument and Memorial Shrine, has been closed to the public since March 28 and until further notice? Add to this that, according to Mayor Young, the President would effectively violate the city’s stay at home law by coming to Fort McHenry. Add to this the fact that city police would be required to provide adequate security for the visit when they are desperately needed elsewhere. "Our City, Mayor Young added, "is still dealing with the loss of roughly $20 million in revenue per month." The City of Baltimore simply can’t afford to shoulder additional unnecessary expense just to mollify the President’s ego.
And what about the National Park Service employees who will need to be on hand for the visit? And what about the ceremonial military units participating in the ceremony? Why are they being put in possible harm’s way. I thought Memorial Day was to honor our military for their service, not to place them in unnecessary jeopardy.
I find it strange that the President thinks it necessary to travel to Baltimore given the fact that just last year he tweeted that the city is a "rodent infested mess" and "a dangerous & filthy place," adding "No human being would want to live there." If this is so, why is he going other than to satisfy his insatiable narcissism with a military parade? And will he wear a face mask? I bet the money in my pocket he won’t.
It has become plainly obvious to me, and to an ever growing number of Americans, that this man does not care about you or me, or the veterans both living and dead who served this country honorably, or the nearly 100,000 women, men and children who have succumbed to COVID-19 virus over the past three months during his watch. He is interested only in what serves his skewed vision of what America should be.
I am reminded of a cartoon that ran a few years ago. A young boy joins his father in a cemetery and asked his father why he came there to stand alone. His father responds that they are not alone. And he is correct. Those of us who are alive today owe our lives and the freedoms we are supposed to enjoy because of the sacrifices, in some instances that final measure of devotion, of those who have come before; our parents and grandparents and all those we never knew yet whom we can now never forget. They are not simply names on rows of tombstones, or on a black marble wall in Washington, DC, or even those names printed on the front page of The New York Times. The paper’s editors said it better than I can. "They were not simply names on a list. They were us." Let us never forget them even if our leaders have. They are us. They always have been They always will be.
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