Ray Ayón
When historians look back at the year 2020 what will be written? Will historians be able to capture the texture of the American landscape? Will they be able to capture a worldwide pandemic that took the lives of over 340,000 Americans and tears that were never wiped away? Will they be able to capture the loss of life, as death ran down narrow corridors of darkness and pain? Will historians capture the image of a daughter’s faced pressed against a glass partition that separated her from a last embrace, as her mother took her last breath? Will historians capture the conversation between two construction workers as they erected a makeshift emergency room in a parking garage? A conversation of their children and sports, liken to a magical manner as they were able to find some normalcy in the face of a deadly epidemic.
Will history capture our current thoughts and prayers of the day, as we huddle in our private bunkers attempting to give reason to an unreasonable reality? Will history be the voice of truth when an epidemic exposed the two América’s? The América that found safety for some Americans that were afforded the luxury of working from home, as their children chatted with grandparents over social media. Will the term essential workers be lost in rhetoric or will it speak to the hypocrisy of the two América’s?
As Americans we must not succumb to temptation of indifference but seek solution through tolerance. América cannot be divided by color or race or political affiliation but exist in a common thread of humanity.
I recently came across an article of the essential worker living in makeshift housing in Carbondale, Colorado. The essential workers were Latinos serving the affluent communities like Aspen and Vail, Colorado. The report found that the Latino population in mountain communities; were disproportionately affected by the Coronavirus. The Aspen Daily reported that while Latino’s make up only 10% of Pitkin County’s population, they represent 40% of the cases. The reality here is that this disgraceful fact is the result of systematic racism that was paved long before the coronavirus.
Will history capture the Trump Administration that resulted in América’s great divide? A divide that pitted neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother. An administration that soiled the American Fabric, a fabric that was woven over 240 years. A fabric of lives lost as men of courage forged ahead leaving a legacy of righteous virtues and a template of humanity. Never, not in war nor in torn ideologies has our constitution faced an adversary as the Trump Administration. A pirate who paraded as the leader of the free world, a coward who found refuge in privilege. History will not be kind to President Trump as he will always be tied to the current epidemic and hundreds of thousands of lives lost due to his disaster’s leadership or lack thereof. A narcissist who gave hate a platform and a rebirth to the Ku Klux Klan.
As Americans as we must forge ahead in the year 2021, it is incumbent that all Americans come to the forefront of change. Only through change can we restore the América that we all deserve the América that we all fought for the América that belongs to all of us. As Americans we must not succumb to temptation of indifference but seek solution through tolerance. América cannot be divided by color or race or political affiliation but exist in a common thread of humanity.
©12/18/20 Raymond Ayón.
Read More Commentary: WWW.ELSEMANARIO.US
We Must Forge Ahead in the Year 2021
Ray Ayón
When historians look back at the year 2020 what will be written? Will historians be able to capture the texture of the American landscape? Will they be able to capture a worldwide pandemic that took the lives of over 340,000 Americans and tears that were never wiped away? Will they be able to capture the loss of life, as death ran down narrow corridors of darkness and pain? Will historians capture the image of a daughter’s faced pressed against a glass partition that separated her from a last embrace, as her mother took her last breath? Will historians capture the conversation between two construction workers as they erected a makeshift emergency room in a parking garage? A conversation of their children and sports, liken to a magical manner as they were able to find some normalcy in the face of a deadly epidemic.
Will history capture our current thoughts and prayers of the day, as we huddle in our private bunkers attempting to give reason to an unreasonable reality? Will history be the voice of truth when an epidemic exposed the two América’s? The América that found safety for some Americans that were afforded the luxury of working from home, as their children chatted with grandparents over social media. Will the term essential workers be lost in rhetoric or will it speak to the hypocrisy of the two América’s?
I recently came across an article of the essential worker living in makeshift housing in Carbondale, Colorado. The essential workers were Latinos serving the affluent communities like Aspen and Vail, Colorado. The report found that the Latino population in mountain communities; were disproportionately affected by the Coronavirus. The Aspen Daily reported that while Latino’s make up only 10% of Pitkin County’s population, they represent 40% of the cases. The reality here is that this disgraceful fact is the result of systematic racism that was paved long before the coronavirus.
Will history capture the Trump Administration that resulted in América’s great divide? A divide that pitted neighbor against neighbor, and brother against brother. An administration that soiled the American Fabric, a fabric that was woven over 240 years. A fabric of lives lost as men of courage forged ahead leaving a legacy of righteous virtues and a template of humanity. Never, not in war nor in torn ideologies has our constitution faced an adversary as the Trump Administration. A pirate who paraded as the leader of the free world, a coward who found refuge in privilege. History will not be kind to President Trump as he will always be tied to the current epidemic and hundreds of thousands of lives lost due to his disaster’s leadership or lack thereof. A narcissist who gave hate a platform and a rebirth to the Ku Klux Klan.
As Americans as we must forge ahead in the year 2021, it is incumbent that all Americans come to the forefront of change. Only through change can we restore the América that we all deserve the América that we all fought for the América that belongs to all of us. As Americans we must not succumb to temptation of indifference but seek solution through tolerance. América cannot be divided by color or race or political affiliation but exist in a common thread of humanity.
©12/18/20 Raymond Ayón.
Read More Commentary: WWW.ELSEMANARIO.US