What we’ve learned from COVID-19

I think one thing we can all agree on, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, is that Americans have realized how fragile life and society is, because we've finally gotten a taste of how quickly everything can be taken away....

We all should have learned to NOT take anything for granted - from our personal health and freedoms, to our grocery stores and everyone working in them, to our hospitals and ALL their staff, including the precious janitors, to our schools and teachers, to our gas stations, banks, barbers and hair salons, sanitation and highway workers and, of course, our places of employment.... (There are many more I could have named, but you get the drift.)

We should have learned how very valuable and essential ALL jobs are, and to never, ever denigrate any one particular profession.  We can do without Hollywood’s entertainers, actors, singers and sports “heroes” as they are NOT “essential”.  We can do without so-called YouTube “influencers” and all that the superfluous and unnecessary and unessential “stuff” provided by the “rich and famous” – but we CANNOT do without the above-mentioned professions!

We all should have learned a lesson to keep "extras" on hand so no one has to selfishly buy up and hoard all the toilet paper, canned and dry goods and hand-sanitizers, etc., while leaving others "high and dry."

And most of all, we all should have learned a lesson to STOP living on credit. Americans have been in debt now for DECADES, thanks to banks handing out credit cards to anyone with a pulse, including those able-bodied people not pulling their weight in our society....

It’s rather pathetic that most Americans didn’t even have enough “emergency” money saved up to even be able to pay for a couple months rent or mortgage!  This dilemma – in most cases - was kicked off because most Americans are in debt up to their eyeballs because they’ve never bothered to control their spending habits.

They have been busy making credit card purchases to buy anything their hearts desired, without giving one iota of a thought to the consequences of “living beyond their means.”  It didn’t dawn on them that – on certain high-interest credit card rates - they would be spending many YEARS paying on ONLY the INTEREST of their large purchases before ever being able to start paying off their principals….

If nothing else, this pandemic should have taught us that that it’s high time for us rearrange our thinking – to change our “bad” habits and begin figuring out how to properly manage our finances, and learn to live within our means while preparing for the future on every level – including any unforeseen emergencies!

We CAN do it – but that will require the realization that everyone needs to start taking personal responsibility for their actions.  We shouldn’t have to rely on “the government” to bail us out – that is NOT written into the Constitution!

What we are mostly in need of doing is getting ourselves RIGHT with YHWH – living by HIS Divine Instructions (Torah), so that “all will go well with us” in every way.  (See Deuteronomy 28 through 20.)