As sacrifices go, this shouldn’t be all that bad; one more pitch to stay safe

Health care professionals all across the state and nation are pleading with us to show restraint. This one holiday season, they ask, we don't have big in-home family gatherings, we don't use public transportation, we don't go out and eat indoors. We wear masks, we keep our distance from others, we don't mix with people outside those in our own household ...

It's tough. Most of us who will honor the request from the people on the frontline will count this as the first holiday season we don't get together with family and friends.

It's hard.

But it's not that hard. Seriously. It's a significant contribution to the health of the region, state and nation ... but it's not a great sacrifice.

At the risk of sounding like the old grandpa who walked to school through six feet of snow and uphill both ways, we'd invite folks to check out U.S. history from the last century – in a row: WWI,

Spanish Flu, Dust Bowl Days, Great Depression, WWII. When you've had your vaccine and things open back up, you can even go to one of the local libraries and look at old editions of the Appeal-democrat to check out local sacrifices. Some households had children who were off to war; and significant numbers of households didn't get their children home alive. There were food shortages. People were displaced from their homes. There was full-tilt rationing. Americans participated in public policy to set things right.

Today, deaths are mounting. Hospitals are full up. Health care workers are exhausted. Many of us worry about losing a family member.

There's no retreat forever. It's a couple weeks of, granted, disappointment and loneliness. We'll live. In fact, if we do it, more of us will live.

No more harping on the subject from us until after Christmas.

Have a pleasant Christmas Eve.