“Let us Play” is the slogan of high school athletes, their parents and coaches and I empathize with them (Sun Journal, Sept. 13). I was never an athlete during my school years, but my daughters were, and I saw the importance it played in their lives. With that said, while I have empathy, I do not agree that fall sports should go on in the middle of a pandemic. It is a hard pill to swallow for young athletes and those standing with them, but other parts of life are difficult as well. Imagine Olympic athletes having worked all their lives in a dedicated regimen fueling dreams of gold medals only to have to accept that the world did not send athletes to the games this year.
Imagine 190,000 American families that have lost loved ones to COVID-19. They understand the phrase “I cannot breathe.” Their loss of breath was a social injustice of a different kind. A deadly respiratory virus came out of nowhere uninvited and took their breath away. That virus is still with us. It continues to stalk us and just loves us to tire of being diligent. It comes to our weddings, our public gatherings, and political rallies. It’s invisibility causes us to forget its invincibility. It allows us to dream football dreams or even eating at our favorite restaurant.
Part of why we so quickly forget the dangers of this pandemic is because we have been misled. It has been understated. That is not just my personal feeling; our president has said so in his own voice and words.
Imagine telling us the horrific forest fires in the West are not real and it is safe to go camping in the woods when the woods are on fire. A virus may be invisible, but this wildfire of a pandemic still rages on.
Perhaps our students, parents and coaches would understand that they and the rest of us are striving for a larger field goal if we heard the hard truth about the game, we are all participating in. “Let us play” indeed, but let us know the game we are in. We can handle the truth.
Don Mayberry, Norway
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