Academic Rants

It has been a long and terrible week in America. A week where daily prayer can only help. It is fitting, if not ironic, that this terrible week ends on Pentecost Sunday. Perhaps the lessons of Pentecost may offer a message to the people of America. Americans have not spoken in one unifying voice for a long time. They have not shared the same or similar views. There has been a good deal of contention. This week has taught us freedom, my freedom or your freedom, may infringe upon the rights of others to live or to enjoy the pleasures of life. During this week, for white America, Ahmad Aubrey, Amy Cooper, Christian Cooper, and George Floyd became household names. For black America, they became symbols of all that is wrong with this nation. America has demonstrated to the world that its people are violent, insensitive, and indifferent to the needs of their fellow citizens. We have put forth a pompous, self-centered national personality that encourages others to fear and loath us ...

When I began writing this entry 44 states had begun to “open up the economy.” Then over 1.3 million Americans have been infected and 84,500 Americans have lost their lives to COVID 19. Statistically, less than 3% of the nation’s population has been tested. It is estimated that 160,000 people will die by the beginning of September. The good news is that 2/3 of those infected seem to fully recover. The bad news is that the United States has 1/3 of the total number of those infected and has suffered the largest number of fatalities. Two weeks later, every state has begun to open up. About 105,000 Americans have died and 1.81 million Americans have been infected. The United States still leads the world in the number of those infected and dying from the virus. And, less than 5% of the nation's population has been tested.  Strangely, the Republicans and the president seem uncomfortable with the portrayal of these facts. Rather than working with the reality of the situation, they have...