2 Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N What will survive the coronavirus? By Erik Dolson Columnist Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer¾s name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is 10 a.m. Monday. To the Editor: Like many of you, I am more than ready for this presidential election season to end, but I’m trying to prepare myself for the like- lihood that on November 4 we still may not have validated results in many races, includ- ing perhaps for the highest office in the land. This election is unprecedented. Because of COVID-19, many more people than usual are voting absentee or with mail-in ballots. We’re lucky in Oregon to have a great system for this, but in other states counting all those ballots will take time, especially in regions where the clerks aren’t allowed to start count- ing until Election Day. It is absolutely critical that we have the patience to wait until all votes are counted to make calls on close races. Just this spring, journalists called the Democratic primary race for Secretary of State for Mark Hass, but by the time all votes were counted Shemia Fagan was the nominee. We can’t make this mistake now. Every vote cast must be counted, and this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. If we don’t protect the results of this election by count- ing every vote, then we are betraying our American democracy. Amber Keyser ó ó To the Editor: I must make this correction to my com- mentary last week The Nugget, page 2): The statement, “There has never been a vaccine for a respiratory virus” should have read, “There has never been a vaccine for a coronavirus.” Monica Tomosy ó ó ó To the Editor: I agree somewhat with C. Kearney on clearing fire hazards in Sisters City Limits if done with minimal cost to business and home owners. I drove back from Salem on Highway 22 and it made me sick to see the devastation from the fires. I also drove nine miles west of Sisters into the woods a month ago; it’s in dire need of cleanup to help prevent fires. Part of the millions of dollars of fire fight- ing should go for prevention. Prisoners would like to leave their cells and do this; also a great job for summer high schoolers and col- lege attendants with professional leadership. In the past the environmentalists and unions have fought this idea. It’s time for them to help, not obstruct. Chet Davis ó ó Sisters Weather Forecast ó ó Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Mostly Sunny Rain Rain/Snow Showers Partly Cloudy 68/51 58/32 41/22 40/23 Monday Sunday Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny 34/15 39/22 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Email: editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Creative Director: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partner: Vicki Curlett Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $55; six months (or less), $30. First-class postage: one year, $95; six months, $65. Published Weekly. ©2020 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is pro- hibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. The coronavirus is a once-in-a-generation event. As it has ended many lives, going forward it will define many others. It will perhaps 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 ter- rifying ways, causing blood clots and strokes in young and seemingly healthy peo- ple, 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 economy tee- ters on the edge as we try to limit a death toll that has reached 230,000 in this country alone. 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. One argument against the U.S. going to war against the Nazis was they were “over there,” on the other side of a great moat that separated America from Europe. That was a false argument then, too, but there are no moats any more, if there ever were, against disease. Diseases like this are wars between species, and ours is under threat. It’ 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 collective will can overcome an alien species that takes individ- ual lives and may destroy whole nations. Others here know history far better than I, but phrases from past crises come to mind. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” “United we stand, divided we fall.” America has excelled when faced with this type of challenge. Acknowledging Winston Churchill’s back- handed compliment, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else,” we have done the right thing, and we prevailed. We saved count- less lives, we saved nations, we saved democracy, we saved freedom. But we did it together. Trump’s 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 reinforced and common interests buried. The strat- egy 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 year, it’s been obvious that strategy is the wrong way to fight the coronavirus. The virus is not contained in New York. The Midwest is not a separate world. Louisiana is not south of the border. We can’t shrug and let each state take care of their own. We are in this together. We can’t let urban states go bankrupt, as if they didn’t support rural states with money and expertise as they do. We can’t let rural states suffer as if their culture wasn’t a crucial strength of America, as we have in the past. We can’t 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 generations of depletion by liberals and deconstruction by conser- vatives, 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 corona- virus and future generations will look upon America with appreciation, and per- haps incorporate the princi- ples 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 nothing more than a great American Dream unfulfilled, American exceptionalism 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.