OPINION

MIKE MASTERSON: Remember them

Most of us enjoy favorite holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and the Fourth of July. Then there's the day set aside to remember those who touched or affected our lives before departing, often far too soon.

My plan as I write for a holiday deadline is to spend time among the headstones at the serene Maplewood Cemetery in Harrison on Memorial Day. This hallowed place on a hill overlooking town holds a majority of the former lives that helped build the community over the decades.

Each fall the brilliance of so many mature maple trees glowing in the sunlight attracts people from many miles. They come to photograph the living among the dead in a setting that adds beauty to families, weddings and emotions.

I'll visit the graves of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who were part of my life seemingly moments ago. That's how it feels when I remember each of them.

I'll stop by the engraved headstones of high school friends like Bill Hudson and Pebble Daniel and Jim Phillips. Then I'll visit Sheridan Garrison, who became my employer and fishing buddy on Bull Shoals.

I'm no different than most in this way. Because we are still alive, it's inevitable that we retain the precious memories of those who enriched our own existence.

Mine come in flashes. Playing golf with my father, Mom's warm smile and laugh. Fishing with Bill Hudson, swaying to doo-wop of the '60s in Pebble's carport.

It's right that we designate a day each year to reflect on the things we did with others and the regrets we harbor over things we didn't do.

I'm sure the breezes will be shuffling as they usually do in the leaves above the tombstones. I'll spend several minutes with my eyes closed. Listening to the rustlings. Remembering why I'm even there. And how many times those resting beneath me did the same thing on Memorial Day.

Friend John Massey years ago advised that whenever I needed to regain perspective in this hectic world, I should grab a blanket and head to any cemetery on a pleasant evening. "Lay amidst all the stones and stare a while into the starry night." Then reflect on how those surrounding me came to this place after exhausting all their needless fears, worries and concerns in life.

One evening I did just that. It was quiet, except for the distant traffic and the faint drone of a distant plane. I did wonder about the former lives on every side and how each had lived his or her life. The peace I found that evening on the grassy earth between the headstones was profound.

Maplewood's crew soon will gather all the memorial flowers and flags. What will remain are the ageless headstones and those precious memories until the time I invariably join them. And perhaps, if I have left anything meaningful of myself behind to benefit others, they too might pay a visit from time to time.

Truth lost in fog

If anything like me, you've enjoyed all the repetitive, mind-numbing news you can stand about covid-19. By this time we're all plenty aware that we need to social distance, wash our hands and use sanitizer regularly.

What troubles me most are all the contradictions, errors and resulting fog of confusion about almost anything you care to mention regarding Wuhan's gift to the world.

The "experts" initially assured us wearing masks was futile because they wouldn't be effective. Then we were told to wear masks, some places even insisting upon it. Then the models of the pandemic horrors that the medical communities and hospitals could expect proved grossly in error. Then we were told the virus could live on surfaces sometimes for days. Yet the CDC now says that's not really the case.

My trust in whatever twisting versions I hear from so-called experts has all but evaporated. I doubt I'm alone. After months of destroying our once-flourishing economy and credibility while locking ourselves down for two months, I'd appreciate actual facts.

Real Clear Politics published an exhaustive analysis piece the other day that questioned virtually everything about the way we have mishandled this disaster.

It began: "In the face of a novel virus threat, China clamped down on its citizens. Academics used faulty information to build faulty models. Leaders relied on these faulty models. Dissenting views were suppressed. The media flamed fears and the world panicked.

"That is the story of what may eventually be known as one of the biggest medical and economic blunders of all time. The collective failure of every Western nation, except one, to question groupthink will surely be studied by economists, doctors, and psychologists for decades to come.

"To put things in perspective, the virus is now known to have an infection fatality rate for most people under 65 that is no more dangerous than driving 13 to 101 miles per day. Even by conservative estimates, the odds of covid-19 death are roughly in line with existing baseline odds of dying in any given year."

Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.

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Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 05/26/2020

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