I’m not one to invoke Richard Nixon frequently though I keep thinking of his notion of the “silent majority.” I see that another protest is promised at the monthly Wood County Health Department meeting, where those who oppose vaccination and/or face coverings will try to convince board members to make unwise decisions. Groups of individuals have been coming to those meetings as well as local school board meetings for nearly as long as this pandemic has dragged on, and they have been flooding the social media comment sections on any pandemic-related article.
I get it. This pandemic has worn us all out. We feel more isolated. We feel more anxious about the future, our jobs, our health, our children’s future, the world that is being changed right in front of us. I wish the pandemic would go away. But this darn virus has been persistent and cunning, and has wreaked havoc throughout the world. It will be over someday, and I hope that someday will be soon, but right now, we’re still in the thick of it.
These protestors all have the right to speak at public meetings. But I think it’s past time for the silent majority to be more vocal, expressing appreciation for the people who are most often the target of the protests. And I want to start by thanking all board members and employees of the Wood County Health Department for their dedicated service during this pandemic. We need to thank all school board members who have had to make tough decisions. They may hear the protests more loudly but there are way more of us who are profoundly grateful for the resilience, hard work, diligence, and dedication they have demonstrated consistently since the pandemic began. And most especially, I would like to encourage our silent majority to thank our health care heroes who are in the trenches of this battle against this horrible virus. Our appreciation for all of your service and leadership is deep and cannot be fully expressed in words.
Mike Zickar
Perrysburg
