Protesting

DURING THE VIET NAM WAR, which lasted throughout most of my childhood, I rooted for the protesters I saw on the news on television, being too young to join them. I rooted for their success and their survival, which could not be taken for granted, either one. In college I studied history, and became a history professor. I found an affinity for the American, French, and Russian revolutionaries in history books, as well as for the African-Americans, women, and gays in real time, on television. I realized that I never met a revolutionary movement that i didn't like, and have spent my adult life with that point of view. All protest is good protest, to me. Regretful at having missed out on the Viet Nam protests, i finally got my chance in early 1990, when I joined several hundred other protesters in a protest march against the war against Saddam Hussein, who had invaded Kuwait because the United States had deceived him into believing that he had U.S. approval. I felt, and still feel, that this was was as unjust and immoral as the Viet Nam War, and I remain proud to have participated in the nationwide protest against it. Now, the virus is changing the world, and with it, me. i finally met a protest I do not like, nor of which I approve. And, I can honestly say that my opposition to thie opposition has nothing, or little to do with my inherent antipathy to conservative causes. I shudder in horror to think of the death toll without social distancing, without quarantining. The covid 19 epidemic would have been far worse than the 1918 flu pandemic without all the measure taken in America, and around the world. To shut down the economy was absolutely necessary. Even now, as the United States begins to resume normal economic activity, the pandemic hangs like a dark cloud over the country; the virus shows little sing of relenting, making the restart of teh economy a h highly dubious proposition. The people protesting the extended shut down were and are dead wrong. There can be no normal economy without getting control of this virus. It may eventuate that opening the economy back up so soon will be a dreadful mistake. we can only hope not.