Boy are we lucky. Dawn and I, and our volunteers have had some social contact (however distant) gathering donations for the Salvation Army. I suspect other poor souls in the community are intensifying addictions to video games and Facebook. Have you vaporized Ziggy from Planet Woojed? What’s the cat up to? At least such interests divert us from graffiti missions, eh?

I find it fascinating that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is still reporting overall death rates below historical numbers, despite a deadly virus being used to transfer incredible sums from small independent businesses to Amazon and other behemoths. Bankruptcies, suicides, and mental illness have all skyrocketed. But reporting of seasonal flu (not the stuff of subsidies) is nonexistent.

Amazon is hiring 1,500 people per day. Renters live in fear of homelessness as a ban on evictions is about to run out. As I read of that my first thought was, “What about the landlord?” Homeowners facing the end of a moratorium on utility disconnects wonder if the government will harvest the money tree to provide warmth for them.

As I visit with people around the red kettle they keep their distance. They cover their faces as if they just robbed the cookie jar. Overall death rates are below previous years. Look at 1918. Life is good now except for the anti-social mindset that has infected us. The topic of conversation often progresses to the savior. No, not The Savior, the vaccine.

People are craving parties and fellowship but are increasingly comfortable with isolation and terror. The peace and quiet of an evening, just the two of us, is essential. But anything in moderation.

I’m not making any wild, unsubstantiated claims here. These are all universally accepted facts of present day life. The response to Covid-19 is a one-size-fits-all solution like any other government project ends up being, simply because of the enormity of it. The collateral damage of such a massive effort is obvious.

Having both benefited from and participated in the individual voluntary efforts of the Salvation Army it becomes clear that the closer we are to those in need, the greater the impact of our help. School children and healthy non-elderly and their acquaintances obviously don’t benefit enough from lock-downs to drive them into bankruptcy and despair. Logical, measured action is not the thing of government bureaucrats.

Private charities, on average, get 70% of donations to the people who need help. Government only does this with 30%, with 70% going to administrative costs and fraud. Other elements that enter into these facts are the gratitude and ambition produced by volunteer efforts compared to the coerced funds distributed by faceless government agencies. Self esteem cannot be overlooked as a big factor of any recovery from hardship.

This column will be in papers on Christmas Eve. As we celebrate the birth of the real Savior we should be aware that the creatures He created have the sense to live a healthy lifestyle to ward off invaders such as Covid-19. But we need to use the brains we have been blessed with. There is a lot of profit to be made by convincing us to ignore science. “Covid-19 related” means just that. A mask in a world full of viral molecules mostly keeps people from fearing or hating us.

The bureaucrats in the government charity system could be doing real charity work. There is plenty to be done. My job as a soldier in the Salvation Army is to out-compete with the wasteful welfare state and provide real help to people who need it, without destroying the nuclear family and thus civil society.