Half a million and counting

More Americans have now died of COVID-19 than those who perished in both World Wars and the Vietnam War combined. As of Tuesday morning, the tally sat at 500,104.

Half a million dead Americans is hard to grasp. That’s a lot of empty of chairs at the dinner table and so many gaping holes in the hearts of loved ones they left behind. We must never forget, and as President Joe Biden noted Monday during a vigil for coronavirus victims, “we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow.”

COVID-19 has dominated our way of life for a year now. We’ve social distanced, worn masks and sacrificed countless traditions in an effort to slow the spread. A lot of people have given up, too, as the virus’ threat is apparently less frightening than being slightly inconvenienced.

While the vaccines have given us a few rays of flickering sunlight on the horizon, rollout has been slow while new and more infectious COVID-19 spread across the country. The only certainty is that infections will continue to climb along with deaths, leaving even more Americans shattered and heartbroken.

So what can we do? Staying the course – or in some cases, getting back on it – is the only option until herd immunity is reached through vaccinations. Public health experts say that won’t happen until 75-80 percent of Americans are inoculated, so we’ve got a long way to go.

Nobody has enjoyed this pandemic and it’s easy to give up hope. However, this country must persevere and continue to do what we can to prevent more Americans from succumbing to this virus. Half a million deaths is a lot of people, and that great loss should carry a monumental weight.

Saluting our future farmers, volunteers and community leaders

Rural Iowa has many rich traditions, but very few have an impact quite like our local FFA chapters.

This week more than 600,000 FFA members across the country are observing National FFA Week. The annual celebration allows communities to laud their local chapters and reflect on their influence, which is indeed huge in areas like ours. After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find an organization with as much youthful enthusiasm as this one. Whether it’s building a shelter house or hosting a food drive, our local Blue Jackets are always willing to lend a helping hand in the communities they serve.

That spirit of volunteerism is one of the many key factors that make FFA great. However, we’d be remiss to ignore the organization’s wide-ranging influence on agriculture. By bringing ag into the classroom, FFA has introduced generations of students to a variety of topics not typically broached in traditional curriculum. Whether it’s a lesson about pigs, corn or something in between, FFA members are cognizant of their food sources and the impact farmers have on the world around them. That’s easy to forget in this day and age, which makes FFA all the more important.

Agriculture has changed drastically since the first FFA chapter was founded in 1928. Thankfully, the organization has continued to thrive and pump out America’s future farmers, biologists, chemists, veterinarians, engineers and entrepreneurs. It has never waivered in its mission, and school districts Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn can be thankful to have thriving chapters that continually serve their communities to the highest degree. Without them, our area would be severely lacking.