Opini n

What’s the use of walkin’ the route if ya ain’t got no mail to deliver? Just because there’s no mail doesn’t mean I don’t have to deliver.

“COVID Free” was the goal of long-term care facilities in Woodstock after dealing with a rash of infections to their residents and staff along with more than two dozen deaths during May and June.

But during August, despite all of their cleaning and precautions, they found they were not so free of the disease, reporting new positive tests for the novel coronavirus and three more deaths.

No more evidence was really needed that we won’t be the ones to determine when this pandemic is over; the virus will do that.

On the other end of the age spectrum, Marian Central Catholic High School began its academic year on Aug. 17 with plans for five full days a week of in-school instruction at its Woodstock campus, ensuring families that all due safety measures were being taken to keep staff and students safe.

But two weeks into the academic year, after two staff members and three students had tested positive, Marian moved to remote learning until at least Sept. 14. The McHenry County Board of Health will have a voice in the exact return date.

“We want to be as safe as humanly possible,” Marian Superintendent Mike Shukis told The Independent. “We are responsible, and we understand that [this virus] is awful, real, and extremely painful. We know that people are fearful. We understand and are responsive to that.”

Awful, real, and extremely painful.

Yet too many people continue to minimize the risk and even question the medical experts who continue to warn us of the dangers of this virus we don’t completely understand. Their willingness to believe kooky conspiracy theories and “alternative facts” is baffling.

While we know not everyone will contract the disease, and nearly all will survive it, the newness of this disease means we don’t really know what long-term damage to the lungs and other organs the virus leaves behind when people are “cured,” even young victims.

While people who succumbed to the virus ranged in age from their 50s to their 90s, McHenry County health officials recently reported the largest group of new infections has occurred in people under 30.

As the national death toll approaches 200,000 – and we prepare to enter the real flu season – we need to renew our focus on minimizing the spread of the coronavirus.

Wearing masks. Wash hands.Watch social distancing. For everybody’s sake.

EDITORIAL CARTOON BY JIM MANSFIELD

The other day I knelt to tie my running shoe. While I knotted the laces in probably less than 20 seconds, my mind was somewhere else – so far away that when I finished, I was mystified by how unconsciously I had performed that simple task. I wondered how many times I had inserted my foot, straightened the tongue of the shoe, tightened the laces, crossed them, made a loop on one side, twisted the opposite lace over, under, and through that loop, and pulled the bow appropriately tight. Writing about the process now is so much more difficult than doing it, and I still wonder how many times I had to complete that process before it became a ritual.

By the way, I first thought that tying my shoe was an acquired habit – until I learned that a HABIT is something done repeatedly for the sole purpose of performing the action itself; for example, biting fingernails. On the other hand, a RITUAL is an act done repeatedly with a purpose outside of the action itself; for example, genuflecting in a cathedral or snapping on a seatbelt in a car. I now understand that tying my shoe wasn’t done just to bend down and manipulate the laces. It was an act performed so that I could safely Jan walk outside to Bosman mow my lawn. Guest Columnist

I have a perfect story to tell you to illustrate that very point. A friend of mine, Carol Seeman from Crystal Lake, left a Super Bowl party in February 2018. She was in a hurry to get out the door, so she didn’t take the time to tie the laces on her tennis shoes. Or maybe the laces on one shoe came undone. Carol doesn’t exactly remember. But, she walked into the frigid night just fine, drove home, and exited the car in her garage.

On the short traipse across the garage floor and up one step into her house, she tripped on an untied lace, fell against the wall of the garage, and ended up with 17 stitches in her head. The bruising on her face made her look as if she’d lost a match to Muhammad Ali. Failure to perform a ritual she had undertaken religiously scores of times almost cost her her life.

To repeat, a ritual is done in full awareness and for a specific goal. A habit is just a routine, an action completed step by step, the same way each time – an end in itself, like picking at a scab.

I don’t know how many times it takes a practicing Catholic to genuflect, ritualistically, before entering a pew – an act performed not to practice bending a right knee but rather to show reverence or honor to the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A Catholic friend of mine said, “Most times I’m aware of what I’m honoring, ... but sometimes, I do the act by rote.”

I don’t know how many times it took me to buckle my seatbelt, ritualistically, when I slid into my car. But I do know that in the past when I sat down on the leather seats at a movie theater, I found myself reaching for a belt. That’s how ingrained the seatbelt ritual Continued on Next page

My first COVID-19 column was March 19. That’s just 10 days short of six months ago. I was my usual optimistic self, titling the piece “This too shall pass.”

We didn’t know much about this particular coronavirus then, and we don’t know much more now. Then, we were told to wash our hands and socially distance. Since then, wearing masks has been added. (To encourage wearing masks, The Independent invites photo submissions of families, friends, co-workers, and other groups wearing masks. It’s part of our “Masks on, Woodstock” campaign. Send photos to woodstock4all@thewoodstockindependent.com)

Fairly early on, we learned some of us are more at risk than others of severe illness and even death as a result of contracting the virus. The CDC identifies age – older than 60 – and existing medical conditions as primary risk factors.

Had we each kept a tally of what we accomplished since mid March, I’m confident we’d be surprised – individually and as a whole. Rooms were redecorated, additions built, recipes tried, books read, movies watched, friendships strengthened, fitness increased, gardens planted, and on and on.

And now? Since 1635, the youths of this country have “gone to school.” Tradition has had students and teachers in school from late summer/early fall to late May/early June. For the Continued from Previous page had become. Once again, a ritual is designed to be performed, nearly automatically, but ever conscious that the act has a higher goal than the act itself. In the seatbelt example, buckling up is designed to keep me from harmful movement in the case of an accident.

And so, I know, here we go again. As one of my grandchildren said, “Do we always have to talk about COVID-19?” But I am wondering when everyone will accept the ritual of mask wearing without slinging verbal assaults, shaming others, or lapsing into histrionics. most part, parents have been accustomed to sending their children out the door five days a week to learn, and welcoming them back home in the afternoon for an after-school snack and the rest Cheryl Wormley of the day. Declarations

That’s not how education rolls this fall. Nearly all District 200 students are eLearning at home. Through the wonders of technology, they see their teachers and their teachers see them. There are two-way conversations. Lessons are taught, questions are asked and answered, and assignments are made and handed in.

If you’d like a peek at what’s being done, take a look at Woodstock Community Unit District 200 on Facebook and click on the video Fall Remote Learning in District 200.

I’ve also been checking the parentorganized Woodstock District 200 Parents eLearning Facebook group. It is parents and some teachers communicating about best practices for helping children with the new dynamic of eLearning.

The posts and comments are positive and helpful. Our schools and our community are being strengthened through questions being asked and answered and the evident caring for I am wondering when mask wearing will be understood as a ritual with a higher purpose: Not just placing a covering over our faces because we’ve been ordered to do so, but placing it over our faces as an act of honor to the people near us.

Carol Seeman discovered the hard way that rituals can mean the difference between safety and disaster. Now, she ties a double knot in each shoelace every time.

I’m not going to pretend that I know all of the nuances surrounding rituals and habits. But I do know that shoe one another.

The leadership at St. Mary Catholic School and Marian Central Catholic High School chose in-school education for their students. Marian had three students test positive for COVID19, so in-school learning has been replaced with remote learning until Sept. 14. I am hopeful St. Mary can stay COVID-19 free, and Marian has only this one setback. Their success should bode well for District 200 deciding to return to in-school instruction.

What’s next? As you know from reading Declarations, in situations like this, I’m for pitching in and helping. But what I would usually do isn’t possible with the pandemic.

Just as the interaction between students and teachers isn’t in-person, helping out can’t be face-to-face, either. If we aren’t parents, teachers, tutors, or caregivers, ours is a supportive role. I challenge you to reach out. Offer encouragement. Text, email, or call. Maybe provide incentives for students – coupons for ice cream treats or gift certificates for buying games or books. Put yourselves in the shoes of teachers and parents, and think about what would brighten their days.

These are novel times, calling for creative thinking, action, and support from each of us.

Cheryl Wormley is publisher of The Woodstock Independent. Her email address is c.wormley@thewoodstockinde

• We welcome letters of general interest to the community.

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considered for a guest column.

• Letters must be signed and include the writer’s address and a telephone number, which will be used for verification purposes only. tying and mask wearing don’t rise to the same level in some minds as do rituals in a wedding ceremony – the “Bridal Chorus,” the ring exchanges, or the repeating of vows.

But maybe they should.

Jan Bosman, a long-time resident of Woodstock, taught English and business education in public schools for more than 30 years. A published columnist and poet, she is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and, locally, the Atrocious Poets.

$75 in Woodstock, Bull Valley and Wonder Lake. $77 in McHenry County. $82 for snowbirds and $90 outside McHenry County.

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