To open or not to open, that is the question...

Information is still coming so fast, it is very difficult to keep up. From day to day, I find myself working my regular job, enjoying every minute I can of this blessing of extra time with my family, and am also trying to figure out how on Earth I can possibly keep up with what is happening around me. I am walking a fine line, and have been for a while. My family is my everything, extra time with them has made a large part of this lock down, or quarantine, or whatever we are calling it lately so amazing. My mind is frequently on so many people that are nowhere near as fortunate as I am, so I am desperately seeking an answer to the question that is on many minds. When do we open back up? Is it safe? People are being told they are arrogant and selfish for wanting our world to open back up for business. Here is my take.

First of all, if you have found yourself taking a hard line stance on the side of open now, or it's too soon, then honestly I don't feel like you have really thought through all sides. In some aspects, I am guilty of this as well. 

When I give you my perspective, I want you to know where I am coming from. I work in the finance industry, I watch the markets all day everyday and I see what is happening to the economy while reading a lot that tells me about what is just around the corner. I do believe that while the virus has been the headline, it has also buried the other pertinent information that people should be informed about in order to feel educated when deciding what it is they feel is best for them to do in the coming weeks. Remember, there is this long standing concept in the United States of America called freedom. That gives us the right to choose how we ultimately respond to what is happening, and we should be able to make our own choices without judgement. 

I feel strongly that people should take into consideration our neighbors, their health and safety, when ultimately making their own decisions. We have to see how things go; we have to hope that our communities can thrive while knowing that there is something floating around out there that can make us very sick, if not kill us. 

With my research from as many angles as I can possibly find, and my beliefs being what they are, I have come to my own conclusion. I hope my perspective can allow you to understand not just my stance, but the stance of many like minded individuals as they make their own choice.

If our economy remains shut down to the extent that it currently is for much longer, I am talking days, not weeks, it may never recover. It truly is as simple as that. Small businesses are dying. People are going into poverty. And it has been made quite clear that our food supply chain is quickly breaking. Thousands of pigs, cattle, chickens, and other marketed animals that millions of people survive on, are being euthanized or otherwise killed. Many ask why? Why can't we just keep them and allow them to grow and wait this out. Well, the thing is, this system has been a machine in place for decades. Each animal costs a certain amount to maintain prior to the processing, packaging, sale, and delivery of these animals. Recently, we have had limited resources to package and process these products so there is nothing the farmers and ranchers can do other than simply kill them off and push them aside.

Wrap your mind around that situation. Thousands upon thousands of animals are literally being piled up and ultimately will be wasted. This scenario right here will cripple our food supply, and it will not take very long. 

This picture was sent to me by a close friend. The exact location was not disclosed. He had reached out to a family member asking for confirmation as to what was going on and whether or not this is true. He received a response from that family member, located in Iowa, that stated local farms are considering gassing thousands of fat hogs because they have nowhere to take them.

So in the end, we have to consider thousands and thousands of farmer and rancher jobs, a ridiculous amount of money being lost on a daily basis, because our day to day economy is shut down. 

Up to this point, people have hoarded the toilet paper, which became a funny meme. Shortly after the toilet paper was a lack of pasta, macaroni and cheese, milk, bread, and other things. At this point, when the meat supply dries up, that will break the entire food industry. 

We now have the oil and food industries begging to be opened back up, because they are crippled. The long term effects can and will be devastating to this Country.

Most of the people banging the drum to open back up are not so concerned about packing themselves into a bar or club to rub shoulders with everybody. Most of the people banging that drum are simply looking to months and years down the road when the argument over when we open back up becomes mute because in the not too distant future, there will be nothing to open. Small businesses are being annihilated, and our major suppliers are crumbling. 

Standing up and saying enough is enough and getting our Country running again is not only correct, but it is very unselfish. Selfish is living in fear because the media has embedded into your mind that you are supposed to and you are a hero for doing so. Yes, we all have to be honest with ourselves, and we have to admit that people may get sick and people may die. We also have to remember that people get sick and die every single day. This is not an ideal situation, but it is one that has to be dealt with. If we remain closed, the number of people that will get sick and die of many things other than a virus will dwarf even the largest number that potentially may perish from the illness that is going on. 

Suicide, violent crime, murder, starvation, are all things that will rise overnight if things do not turn around in a hurry. A little common decency and common sense can take our Country a very long way when we decide to re-open. People should be welcome to decide to stay home if they have the means to do so, others should be welcome to get back to work because that affords them the means to live the life they work hard to achieve. We have been intentionally divided over many things, but this is truly life and death of this Country. Being divided, rather than allowing us all to have the freedom we are meant to have in order to make an educated decision about our livelihoods should not be an obstacle. Our freedoms do not stop and start because the media claims they should. As Americans, we should all be able to stand side by side and understand, accept, even cheer the decisions that people make. 

Freedom is not free. Freedom takes heart, guts, and determination.