This was written by one of my friends, retired Chicago Police Lieutenant John Dowd.  John has an MBA and is working as a private investigator lately.  He is also the Dean of his homeschooled classes while schools await reopening. He has touched on something that certainly should have us all thinking next time we hear the phrase “LOW SKILLED WORKER”.

” This pandemic has shown us the real value of our fellow Americans. What was commonly referred to as low skill jobs are some of the most essential jobs in the country. The cleaning person at the local hospital, the truck driver delivering gasoline to the gas station, the restaurant worker, the toilet paper manufacturer, assembly line workers making safety equipment, the national guard, nurses, and all the rest on the list far too long to write. Collectively we need to remember all these workers on an ongoing basis rather than falling back into our yesterday where some out of touch celebrity who really doesn’t give a crap about any one of  the people listed, is seen as an expert because of their notoriety.” John Dowd——- He goes on to quote Charles M. Russell, Montana, American Artist and champion of Native American Rights 1926.  “Guard, protect and cherish your land, for there is no afterlife for a place that started out has heaven.”

John’s brilliant incite has awoken in us just what the hell essential means and who is delivering and stepping up while most of us remain virtually helpless. Imagine where we would be without those so-called low skilled people. There would be no fights over toilet paper, hand sanitizer, eggs, milk, and all the other essential goods we all need to sustain life because they would not be on the shelves, to begin with. There would be nobody to clean and care for the sick when need be. All those people who at one time were labeled low skilled have finally been exposed for what they are “OUR HEROS.” During this pandemic ask yourself could we have ever survived without them? Look around and see who is there for us, not only for basic needs, but for safety, sustenance, and all those other essentials we surely have taken for granted in all those yesterdays that John mentioned.

I’m really wondering when this pandemic subsides if historians will be able to say about us what today’s historians say about, what some folks call “THE GREATEST GENERATION,” the time of World War II. Eighty years ago when America faced the crisis of a world war, the greatest generation stepped up together to defeat enemies that were bent on taking away our freedoms. Back in 1941, there was one man in the world who knew what we were all about, it wasn’t a guess.

His name was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Marshall Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and  Commander in Chief of the combined fleet. Admiral Yamamoto was the architect of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. He also had studied at Harvard for two years and knew the American people well and had great respect for American values and an admirer of our freedoms. The worst kind of enemy a Country could have.

The Japanese Government’s plans were to follow up Pearl Harbor quickly with land troops and invade our country swiftly when they assumed we would be at our weakest. Yamamoto fought against the idea of the invasion and informed the Japanese leaders that to do so would devastate our armies and in time America would defeat us.

His words to them were, “OUR ARMIES WOULD BE FACED WITH A RIFLE BEHIND EVERY BLADE OF GRASS FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES.” Yamamoto knew something of our history, he knew of that fighting spirit, that same spirit that routed the superiorly equipped British invaders with their, RED COATS.  He knew about the common folks who tamed the West and were always willing to answer any call that threatened American freedom. He also knew what we all think about today and can only guess of our leadership, that most have in their minds and speeches will have the same in their GUTS.

Do we have the right leaders?  Do we still have the RIGHT STUFF Yamamoto knew we possessed? We are facing a crisis, it’s early but it is real, it’s killing and making demands this generation never had to face. “IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT EVERY CRISIS CAN BE MANAGED.  AS MUCH AS WE WANT TO KEEP OURSELVES SAFE, WE CAN’T PROTECT OURSELVES FROM EVERYTHING.  IF WE WANT TO EMBRACE LIFE WE ALSO HAVE TO EMBRACE CRISIS.” Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

I certainly will not be around when those historians judge us, many years from now, but it’s my fervent hope we will be judged by our compassion, courage, and understanding. It’s time to take a stand, put bickering aside, squabbling, denial and blame are for losers.  We have to ask ourselves do we really have the right stuff in our guts. We are going to find out very soon.

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