I Have Questions

by Michele Boy | July 16, 2020

Do you remember the scene in the 1998 sci-fi classic movie Armageddon, when everything is falling apart and they think Earth is doomed, and they have one last chance to save it?

 Colonel Sharp tries to follow his orders and Bruce Willis gets in his face and says, “Why are you listening to someone who is 100,000 miles away?”

That’s sometimes how I feel about our state government. We are way out on the edge of Kansas. Not Topeka. Not Florida or New York. We don’t have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people here. 

We have generally had about 3 to 5 active cases throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.  Most of us have not worn face masks and the number stays the same. 

We have closed down many events, our movie theater and are sitting at phase 3 of 45 persons or less. 

Yet we are also discussing in just a few weeks reopening our schools. 

And many people are asking the same questions. This doesn’t seem to add up. 

I appreciate that in the beginning when we didn’t understand what was going on we paused, shut down and made sure we had supplies. 

But then we slowly reopened to phase 3 and now masks are pushed even more. But months later we are still at mass gatherings of 45 or less. The county to the east of us is in phase out. No limits on gatherings. If masks work, if our school can open, why the limits? 

Why are we following the Governor’s plan? 

I am not a county commissioner. I am not putting on or canceling an event. There are limits and requirements from insurance etc. Truly all of it is meant to be for our safety and I respect that. 

And I really appreciate our Emergency Manager incredibly for his willingness to hear my questions without ego, acknowledge flaws in the government system and work with everyone to try to keep us safe. 

But I still have questions. The biggest question I have is are we on Earth to be safe?