“Do with less so they have enough.”
Growing up as the daughter of parents of The Greatest Generation, I heard this battle cry at family gatherings packed with aunts and uncles. Stories of World War II, or as my uncles called it, “the war to end all wars,” were common. My uncles served in the Air Force, Army, and Navy and fought in the Pacific and European theaters. My fathers oldest brother lost his life in Italy.
Virtually every aspect of American life of the 1940s was focused on winning the war. Every citizen worked to do his or her part to support the Allied troops. It was each Americans civic responsibility to sacrifice for the front line. Womens contributions to the war effort were most visible primarily on the home front.
I heard stories of victory gardens, gas rations of four gallons a week, and ration coupons for sugar, butter, meat, and oil. Recycling didnt start with the first Earth Day in 1970. During World War II, fats and grease were returned to butchers to be rendered and processed for ammunition. Paper and cardboard were needed to pack military shells and for cartons to ship K-rations to troops.
Women really did draw lines up the backs of their legs to give the appearance of stockings with seams because silk was required to make parachutes. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without,” was the message to all citizens, and to comply with that message was to exhibit patriotism.
Today the front line is in our community. The troops are nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, health department employees, all healthcare providers. Our soldiers include first responders such as firefighters, paramedics, police, and EMTs. Teachers, grocery store staff, direct-service professionals, and medical assistants are on the front lines and doing their part in this war.
My mother remembered being a young girl sitting in her house in western Pennsylvania with blackout curtains on windows and lights extinguished. Todays children will one day describe virtual classrooms on computer screens, no graduation parties or football games, and long lines of cars awaiting food to be loaded into the trunk.
Until now, our weapons in this war were limited. Last year we were armed only with masks, hand sanitizer, and our ability to gauge six feet of distance, tactics that many people refuse to use. But in 2021, we are fortunate to have another weapon in our arsenal. We can now attack the root cause of the enemy that has erased the pre-pandemic life we knew in January of 2020.
The American death toll in World War II was a devastating 407,316. In the war against COVID-19, casualties will soon exceed that count. It took the D-Day invasion and the atomic bombs dropped in Japan to bring an end of the war of my mothers youth. Our invasion has begun. Healthcare workers and the vulnerable elderly are being armed. Soon it will be your turn. The end to this global fight is at hand. You can join the assault by merely rolling up your sleeve.
Everyone is in the battle against COVID-19. Our sacrifice for the front-line troops will be to keep using the weapons at hand until we are called to serve. We all dislike masks, but we can wear them a bit longer. Savings accounts, small businesses, restaurants, theaters, concerts, tourism, and more have been ravaged, but they will return, and you can help the recovery. When its your turn for the vaccine, you will have the opportunity to show your patriotism against this war. Roll up your sleeve and pass the ammunition.
In Indiana, disability support professionals and the clients they serve are in the 1A round of vaccine eligibility. I am proud to be part of a state that recognizes the difficulty in protecting the health of the person with a disability as well as that of the individual providing the care. Avoiding the spread of COVID in these situations is difficult and too many with disabilities have comorbidities that put them at great risk if they would contract the virus. There are now thousands of vulnerable who will be towards the front of the line getting this needed vaccine.
If you are uncertain when it is your turn, call 211 or go to ourshot.in.gov.