Pandemic hard, but let’s not blame Trudeau

Dear Editor:

Re: “Trudeaus play by different rules” by Jeff Frank (Courier/Herald letters). The author was decrying the fact that social distancing was making life miserable for him and his family.

Many people do not understand how contagious air-borne viruses can be. For instance, if you have never had chickenpox and then you sit down in an average-sized living room with a person with active chickenpox on the other side of that room, you will be contaminated and get sick from the airborne chickenpox virus. Scientists are still trying to figure out Covid-19’s infectivity and to counteract it.

The writer is justifiably distressed that so many wonderful activities are being curtailed. This happened during the terrible 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, too. This is a quote from that time: “We are maintaining this quarantine for the benefit of all. It is not a pleasant or profitable undertaking. When whole families have been wiped out around us, isn’t it worthwhile to maintain a strict quarantine here, although it entails inconvenience, hardships and financial loss?”

Is Trudeau justified in spending a weekend at his Harrington Lake cottage with his wife and three children? Trudeau has enormous stresses in dealing with the pandemic, economy, and the various needs of all parts of this country. It’s mentally-draining work. I didn’t vote for Trudeau, but I think that he’s doing a good job of trying to get us to work together to stop this pandemic. He and his family deserve some rest.

As Teddy Roosevelt said: “Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining.”

What is the proposal of the letterwriter: To protest by not voting at all in the next election — hoping that others will do likewise so that a protest is noticed?

Bad solution: In the 2016 US election, some Republicans didn’t vote because they couldn’t stand Trump and wouldn’t vote for Hillary. Did anyone notice their protest? No! The only result was that incompetent King Trump got elected.

If our leader needs a quiet weekend rest with his family, it doesn’t seem that we should whine and begrudge him that.

Marilyn Hansen, Summerland