A little common sense goes long way

To the Times:

On or about 1918, my father, a returning WWI soldier contracted the Spanish flu and fought like hell to live. Now in 2020, we as a great nation and people are facing another menacing pandemic.

As one who has worked with young people, ranging from 18 to 22 years of age as their career and college counselor, I am saddened and disappointed in the way thousands of them are confronting this menacing, silent killer. While many of their youthful counterparts are in distant lands laying down their lives facing a visible and fanatical enemy, many of their college-attending, so-called educated friends at home are frolicking on sun-drenched Florida beaches in open defiance of the common-sense strategy calling for social distancing as the main way in limiting the highly contagious spread.

When after our trusted scientific and medical scholars join forces with what is left of our wise and honest elected officials to defeat this life-shattering threat, colleges should mandate that every enrolled student on either the most elite campus or the least elite campus should take a course in “common sense.”

I suggest that no Ph.D., tenured faculty member teach it. Citizens who were lucky enough to survive the coronavirus epidemic might best be suited.

We will no doubt face additional assaults on our accustomed and satisfying lifestyles in the future.

Having more citizens equipped with fundamental, common sense survival skills will help insure continued victories over our visible and invisible enemies.

Sam Alfonsi, Marple