Ebola—Book Learning vs.
Experience, aka The School of Hard Knocks
It
has been a while since I have written a posting to this blog, quite a while,
but perhaps the subject of the Ebola virus will be a good comeback inasmuch as
it is currently so much in the news.
I’m sure you
have all heard it said that this person or that has book learning but no real-
life experience. Usually, the reference is used in a pejorative sense as
criticism; but, really, no matter what or how much we learn from our studies,
it remains in the end for us to learn from experience. In my view, there is no
way anyone in a hospital in Texas or anywhere else in a country where it had
never occurred before or, for most, even heard of for that matter, protocol
(book learning) notwithstanding, be expected to react efficiently and
effectively when, “out of the blue”, the very first victim walks or is carried
through the door. Also, I submit to you that anytime or every time a new and
unexpected event occurs—always, we might be expected to fail in our
communications with one another. This happened in Pearl Harbor; it happened on 9/11;
with this Ebola crisis, it has happened again; and this time won’t be the last.
Such is just in the scheme of things.
For my part, I
am outraged that so much has been made of this. I am outraged at the
politicization—the political grandstanding; I am outraged at the excessive
media coverage; and I am outraged at the mass hysteria being generated by it
all. Now, today, the White House has announced the appointment of an Ebola
Czar—absolutely ridiculous, just another expensive level added to the
bureaucracy which will serve only to further impair and complicate solutions to
our management and resolve of the many problems involved with this Ebola crises.
CDC Director Tom Frieden was the only Czar needed.
It is, also,
remarkable that our representatives have the time to come back to Washington
and interrupt the work of those already working around the clock as they search
for solutions to the crisis when they don’t have the time to come back into
session and address the other many problems of our nation, i.e. immigration
policy for just one example.
Let there be no
doubt. This is a very serious problem. It needs to be solved at the earliest
possible moment, and I’m confident it will if we can keep the politicians out
of it. Haven’t they screwed us up enough? They haven’t been able to solve relatively
simple problems like taking the money out of politics, immigration reform, unemployment,
i.e. jobs, minimum wage reform, or public access to really affordable single
payer universal health care, let alone solve the problem of an Ebola epidemic.
If you don’t do
anything else on Election Day, Vote! Vote in your interests—Your Interests, not
those of the Corporatocracy and Elite, the 1% dominating the governance of this
nation, i.e. those who bought our democracy. Vote for those who will get the job done for you—who will give you back your country.
Ronald Miller
Email me at mtss86@comcast.net
