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Wednesday, April 29, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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What will survive
the virus?
By Erik Dolson
BY KATHY DEGGENDORFER
Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and
phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions
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To the Editor:
As the district continues to navigate the
COVID-19 crisis, I want to give an update
from our last school board meeting.
Sisters School District grew by 8 students
as reported in the April board meeting. Bond
work continues as our new transportation
center construction moves forward and the
walls are starting to go up. Additionally, the
board approved the 2020-2021 school cal-
endar with some modifications. As soon as
those modifications are completed, we will
post the calendar on the district webpage and
send it out. Additionally, you can access my
messages and those of our building principals
from our district website, www.ssd6.org.
The district submitted the Student
Investment Account application to the
Oregon Department of Education and we had
our first official budget meeting. With the
uncertainty of the economic impact of the
COVID-19 crisis, the Sisters School District
is especially grateful for our community9s
continued support of our local option.
We continue to support students with
grab-and-go breakfast and lunches that can
See LETTERS on page 14
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The coronavirus is a
once-in-a-generation event.
As it has ended many lives,
going forward it will define
many others. It will per-
haps define our country,
what we have become and
who we will be.
The virus is an insidious
enemy, spreading among
people who do not appear
to be sick. It can attack in
terrifying ways, causing
blood clots and strokes
in young and seemingly
healthy people, invading
the lungs in a way that
does not cause shortness
of breath until there is too
little oxygen for life.
But the damage is not
suffered just by individu-
als with the virus, and
their families. Our econ-
omy teeters on the edge
as we try to limit a death
toll that reached 50,000 in
this country alone in about
one month. We have had
to change how we live.
The coronavirus and its
aftermath are threats to the
whole country, a threat to
the whole world.
Diseases like this are
wars between species, and
ours is under threat. It9 s the
type of threat that requires
us to come together as a
people, as humanity. It is a
threat that should unite us
in a battle where our col-
lective will can overcome
an alien species that takes
individual lives and may
destroy whole nations.
Others here know his-
tory far better than I, but
phrases from past crises
come to mind. <A house
divided against itself can-
not stand,= <United we
stand, divided we fall.=
America has excelled
when faced with this type of
challenge. Acknowledging
Winston Churchill9s back
handed compliment,
<You can always count on
Americans to do the right
thing 4 after they9ve tried
everything else,= we have
done the right thing, and
we prevailed. We saved
countless lives, we saved
nations, we saved democ-
racy, we saved freedom.
But we did it together.
Trump9s strategy of
spreading fear and loath-
ing, divide and conquer,
winning is all that mat-
ters, has been shockingly
successful in this Age of
Facebook where ideologies
are reenforced and com-
mon interests buried. The
strategy helped Trump take
over the Republican Party
and helped Republicans
capture the debate of what
it means to be an American.
But over the last several
weeks, it9s been obvious
that strategy is the wrong
way to fight the coronavi-
rus. The virus is not con-
tained in New York. The
Midwest is not a separate
world. Louisiana is not
south of the border. We
can9t shrug and let each
state take care of their own.
We are in this together.
We can9t let urban states
go bankrupt, as if they
didn9t support rural states
with money and expertise,
as they do. We can9t let
rural states suffer as if their
culture wasn9t a crucial
strength of America, as we
have in the past. We can9t
turn our backs on anyone.
If the virus hides out in a
pocket in Kentucky, or in
Africa, it will escape and
come for the rest of us.
I am not advocating
action as a liberal. There
are many liberal agendas
I do not support, and there
are left wing interests I
feel are destructive. But
now is not the time to take
sides. Despite two genera-
tions of depletion by lib-
erals and deconstruction
by conservatives, America
united still has the ability
to lead the world in this
fight against an enemy that
could kill any of us, and
destroy all of us.
But only if we stand
shoulder to shoulder.
If we can own our indi-
vidual responsibility to
America, and to humanity,
we will defeat the coro-
navirus and future gen-
erations will look upon
America with appreciation,
and perhaps incorporate
the principles on which she
was built of value to each
of us.
If our efforts are driven
by selfishness, pettiness,
and discord, if divided,
we will fail. The great
American experiment
will have been noth-
ing more than a great
American Dream unful-
filled, American excep-
tionalism will have been an
exception we never meant
it to be.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.