SLTrib ran some reader letters today about how Covid affected their lives. They asked for more, so I assume there will be a follow-on report later.

A couple of people mentioned a loss of faith. My thought when they announced that elders should stop administering to the sick during the height of the pandemic was that it was going to be a WTF moment for the true believers who actually thought there was in fact real power in the Priesthood. Turns out being a duly authorized Priesthood Bearer™ doesn't protect you from airborne infections, even if you have magic oil. Surprise, surprise.

Anyway, here's what I thought was one of the best quotes from the article:

“Lost my faith, nearly lost my life, lost my dad to COVID — and forever have to deal with the indignity of people asking, ‘What did he really die of?’ — lost my job, and had to move back in with my mom. COVID hit a year after having gone through cancer, too. I’ve had to pick up the pieces of my entire life and completely build a new one. I am content with where I am now, but this inability for our society to truly grapple with the long-term implications of it means that I have to relive aspects of it every day.” — Emily, Taylorsville

The virus is still alive and well and mutating as we speak.

You can't say the same for many of those affected - being alive and well, I mean. Sorry to be stark about it.

Here is the current info from WHO - for those who are still interested.

https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/cases

It's not in the past tense yet, if ever it will be. It's disappointing when even public figures and info sent out refer to it in that way.


"...this inability for our society to truly grapple with the long-term implications of it means that I have to relive aspects of it every day.” — Emily, Taylorsville

It's too bad when people figure that if you have a problem you deal with it, with seemingly no awareness, or regard, for the fact that perhaps their choices and actions adversely affect others. It's disheartening in the extreme to come to realize that many just don't care about that fallout.

Your points are very valid. Sadly, in the U.S., we are trained by our parents, churches, friends, and sometimes, even schools, to believe that actions we take have no effects on others. In some quarters, we are taught that "I am the only person that matters and that everybody else is here just to serve me and my interests." As we have seen with Covid19 and how it was handled (and mishandled) in the U.S., that kind of thinking can have some very destructive results.

What you say is very frightening, Blindguy...

The "What did he really die of" is the worst. That's a "kick 'em while they're down" move.

Yes, cruelty is the point.

Re stuff costing twice as much:
I just checked the price of bacon at the local Smiths/Kroger. $3.99 for 12 oz Bar S. That's pretty close to what it was 5 years ago, add maybe 15% for 5 years of inflation.

Gasoline is $3.00 a gallon here at the moment. Adding 15% for 5 years of inflation, it is cheaper now than it was 5 years ago. [edit to add: make that 6 years ago. Gas got real cheap in 2020 because hardly anybody was driving]

Housing is up because of a combination of factors: interest rates are up, labor is in short supply because immigration dropped to near zero for about a year and a half during the pandemic, construction was way down in 2020, and people working from home wanted more space at home, so they bid up the prices of all but the smallest residences.

Eggs. Another pandemic, but chickens this time.

Other than things like that, stuff costing twice as much is a fantasy. I just had to buy a new phone and computer after 8 years. The phone was a little more expensive for expanded capabilities, the computer was cheaper for a better product. That's typical of electronics.

"Stuff" spiked in price during the pandemic because little money was spent on services (restaurants, vacations) so the people with incomes, and thanks to covid relief funds, lots of money was spent on stuff. That, combined with crippled supply lines, and factories shut down, made stuff very expensive for a while. A freighter stuck sideways in the Suez Canal didn't help.


Just trying to remind people what actually happened.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2025 10:45AM by Brother Of Jerry.

As usual, BoJ, you are the voice of sanity.

I would also like to point out to "Master of" and any of a similar ilk, that you speak about Covid as if it only affected the US and even when you acknowledge that it didn't, you try to explain it away with conspiracies which do not apply outside the US, as reactions to the pandemic were multiple and varied.

You'd do better to examine why the US performed so badly, in terms of deaths, etc. Not all of it can be explained by your sub-par health system. Much of the difference compared with other nations comes from the high level of science rejection in the US.

As a recent "great" American said not long ago :"Sad."

Most trolls are pretty sad. Sad that they can't even use a consistent name on an anonymous board lol. This one was a textbook case of what is wrong with a slice of American society today, ME ME ME ME. Selfish. Who gives a crap about all the people that DIED, have long term effects or lost people they cared about. Refrigerated trucks full of body bags? Who cares! I was INCONVIENCED. Waaah waaah, poor me. They don't care who gets hurt or what other people need, it's all about what they WANT.

Sad indeed.

That sums up so much of our shared experience.

It sure does, CrispingPin.

Thanks, Susan I/S.

Well said and thank you Soft Machine. As a kid in the fifties and teen in the sixties I would never have guessed in a million years that America would not even be trying to catch up on all the ground they would lose. We talk about the dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance all the time with regard to the Mormon Church, but it applies in general to the whole country in 2025 and has for a long time now.