Anderson: Thank you offered to essential workers in Sun City West

et’s all stop to appreciate and say “thank you” to our overlooked essential service providers.

There has been a lot of questions about essential services. What are they? Who provides them? But it might be nice, especially at this time, to think about who they are and appreciate their efforts in this time of uncertainty. 

Delivery of material and service are a necessity and I believe that food for the body and food for the mind are required.  Farmers, truck drivers and merchandisers are essential to keep our bodies nourished. Newspapers, television, radio and, yes, even the Internet can provide nourishment to the mind. Every day I am grateful to the stores that are open so I can get the food I need and every day I am grateful to the newspaper people who produce the paper and the delivery people who make it available daily. These things allow me to live a semi-normal life during this time of uncertainty.

I agree that our health providers and our public safety people need to hear a big “thank you” from us during these times of stress, but I also think we need to give the same to those other essential people who are out there every day making sure that we have the food and other services that allow us to survive. I am talking about the truck drivers who bring our food and other necessities to locations where we are still able to purchase what is needed to survive in our own homes. The people who stock the shelves of the stores, the people who make and/or grow the items that allow us to live in today’s world. 

With much of our country asked to “stay at home” and many of our entertainment businesses able to do that, and still provide entertainment for us via TV and radio, the other people, who must actually be in the front lines of this virus challenge, are required to venture out where the rest of us are told not to go. They are currently working every day to make sure the rest of us have the essentials available to survive! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We are told that restaurants and other local businesses are under stress, and they are, but there are millions of farmers and farm workers who must be out working every day during this time of the year to ensure that fields are plowed and crops are planted so later in the year there are crops to be harvested and processed to provide the necessary food for our tables at the end of the year. 

It is true that the supply lines need to be kept open and the production of needed goods and services must continue if we are to survive this pandemic, but it is also true that human beings are resilient and I believe we will come our of this crisis and resume life. 

One thing is for sure, our communication network is much more advanced than what was available during earlier times. We can know what is happening on the other side of the world within minutes or even seconds of the occurrence, but it is also true that not only can information travel faster now, so can the virus. Our current challenge is to convince enough people now that it is not smart to take chances with the spread of this virus! Will they listen and comply? That is the multi dollar question.

Until we see the ending of this COVID-19 challenge, I hope we all comply with the request to keep one another as safe from this virus as possible and that we all take time to say “thank you” to the people who must remain on the front line of this pandemic, not only the doctors, nurses, fire and police but the postal workers, store clerks, truck drivers, farmers, as well as those people who stock the shelves and load and unload the products that we need every day to survive in these trying times. These people will still be as valuable and ought to be appreciated as much when this crisis is over.

Again, thank you!

Editor’s Note: Larry Anderson is a PORA board member and SCW Broadcast Club vice president.