I have just returned home from 5 weeks in Wisconsin visiting friends and family. Wisconsin is such a great place to be in the summer especially if you are along Lake Michigan. The sunrises along the lake are some of the best in my opinion. Being on the west coast of Florida I don’t get the sunrises like I did in Wisconsin but then I didn’t get the sunsets like I do in Florida. I have always like sunrises because it always made me feel reborn with every new day. There are always trade-offs wherever you live.

Being back home were the Delta variant of the virus seems to be running rampant is a little scary. We in Florida, it seems to me, is back at a level where people should really start protecting themselves. To have the numbers we are having even with half the population vaccinated is scary. It is almost like we have been doing nothing here. With the track record of out Governor of suppressing numbers  I am pretty sure it is even worse than what they are saying. I never stopped wearing a mask here and of course will continue even though I have been vaccinated. Even vaccinated you can still get and spread the virus. Even though we have many people here in Florida that will not protect themselves, I still feel that I should still do my part to help protect them.

The first time around with the virus our Governor seemed to be lost on what to do and how to protect the people here. He seemed to want to follow the direction of then President Trump and not the CDC and Florida was hit really hard. It took the communities themselves to step up and start taking measures to ensure the safety of the public. Sanibel Island was one of the first places that made masks mandatory and closed their beaches in an effort to protect the residents of the island. They were what I called responsible government, though some may say otherwise.

The Delta variant  has brought back Covid-19 with a vengeance. Our ICUs are filling up with infected people who mostly those that chose not to vaccinate. Why did those people choose not to vaccinate? I like to blame it on the lying and misinformation from the conservative news and the Christian  right though I am sure there is more blame to go around. You see signs like “My Body, My Choice”, and the “Blood of Jesus is my Vaccine”. I love the “My Body,  My Choice” argument, it is like the right is becoming pro –choice  which we know it is not. The “Blood of Jesus is my Vaccine” is just scary.

DeSantis has already started h is run for the Presidency and he is now playing to a national audience. He will oppose almost everything that President Biden says in an attempt to grab headlines and votes. He has a proven track record of trying to manipulate data going as far as firing his data specialist because she would not manipulate the numbers for him. I will say that I have seen more honest Governors than him. He is now threatened to cut off school funding if a school district makes masks mandatory. He says that children have to breathe. I will say the dead children do not breathe at all. I know that children run a better chance of surviving the virus than most adults but not all children. What are the acceptable losses and who decides what is acceptable and what is not? We are not soldiers on the battle field being sacrifice by some general for a piece of ground. That general would at least give the soldier the means and training to fight. DeSantis just wants people to sacrifice so he can look good in places like Iowa.

DeSantis is trying to take away the means of the local community to protect themselves by saying that there will be no mask mandates. First, I think that that message will just create more problems because DeSantis cannot tell a business what they can and can’t do when it comes to masks. If a business requires masks you are going to have people getting pissed and saying the our Governor says we don’t have to. His  message is one that will divide us more not create a safer environment for all of us. I would think that a true leader would be one that is unifying all of us to fight and survive this pandemic together. I know, that would make him sound too much like President Biden and we can’t have that. If a Republican sounds like to true unifying leader he is not really a Republican is he? He would rather blame immigrants than try to find real solutions.  More State Police at the Texas border will not help the children of Florida.

Where is the church in all of this? Where are the clergy that want to be the shepherd that protects its flock and not put them in harm’s way? Jesus would never play politics with people’s lives. He was all about protecting his neighbors not promoting Pontius Pilot. He would be handing out masks not taking them away. He would be teaching us how to live with and respect each other.