Dear READERS:

I published the following article earlier this week, but used the wrong idiom! This is what happens if I get too sure of myself and word meanings. My sister, who is deaf, has made it a lifelong habit to look up words and phrases to make sure she understands what she’s reading. When she looked up “whistling in the wind,” she couldn’t make sense of the definition within the context of my article. AND SHE WAS RIGHT!

So here is the amended version, and my apologies to all of you.

Wiping the egg off my face (and yes, I looked that up to make sure!),

Linda

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The Great Divide has widened in America as the pandemic continues.

While we find stories of kindness and passing it forward every day, the news is filled with people’s rage. Rage against guidelines. Against others who want to start working again.

Both deal in fear, and I can sympathize.

Which of the following statements comes closest to describing you?

The terrified.

Some are terrified to leave their homes. Many of them resent those who aren’t terrified and wander freely. The wanderers will infect another ten thousand people!

Some are terrified that they will live in poverty – no job, no way to feed their family, their homes repossessed by the banks. The shutdown will cause America to become a third world nation, so buried in debt they’ll never be able to dig out from under!

The Christians

Even in the Christian community, people are fearful and disagree.
“Where is your faith? Come out from hiding!”
“Where is your wisdom? Stop being foolish and stay home!”

Definition of a fool, according to the New World Dictionary – “a person with little or no judgment, common sense, or wisdom.”

The Optimists vs. the pessimists.

“It will be okay. All things end up working out.”
“It won’t be okay. We’ve tipped the balance. Either we let people die and go back to work, or we end up in substandard housing with our hands out for a government check.”


Me. I’m an optimist, a Christian who lives by faith, and my fears are minimal. However, that doesn’t mean I think everything will automatically be okay, or that I’m a fool.

When I’m inside a public place, I wear a mask (most of the time). Do I believe it will keep me healthy? No, but as a Christian, I try to be considerate of those who fear me if I’m NOT wearing a mask. (1 Corinthians 8:9) And I keep in mind that I’ve been proven wrong on many occasions through my lifetime. (See my note above, for example!)

I don’t know if America will recover her prosperity now that trillions of dollars of debt have been added to the red bottom line in her budget. I may end up quite poor. I may end up enslaved to a socialist government. But no matter what, I will still have God right beside me. And that’s what keeps me upbeat.

Those optimists who have no faith in anyone but themselves and think that their ingenuity will get them out of this bind, are whistling in the dark. Humans find it much easier to destroy something good than to create it.

Definition of a fool, according to Linda Sammaritan: “depending on ourselves alone.”

My God has been beside me all of my life. I see where He has taken difficult situations and made them a blessing. For instance,the whole World Without Sound series is based on my childhood during a time when  parents were told to put their children in institutions.The handicapped would always be a “burden” if they lived at home.

Mom and Dad refused to follow the “expertise” of medicine and science, and they continued to love on my sister at home. It took our family years of struggle in an era when sign language was discouraged to figure out how to communicate with a profoundly deaf child. We prevailed with God’s guidance.

Today, my sister is a lovely person, one whose heart’s desire is to serve others, especially the helpless. She is my sister by blood and my sister in Christ. What a blessing!

There are many other examples I could name when Jesus walked beside me through heartbreaking times. He will continue to be there whether I test positive for the corona virus or not, whether my retirement account plunges to nothing or remains steady, whether my husband loses his job or stays employed.

And that’s not whistling in the dark.