Laurels & lances: Giving thanks, respecting rules
Share this post:
Laurel: To putting the “give” in Thanksgiving. It’s hard enough to nail the “thanks” part. There are different ways to do that, though. Some find the gratitude in the grace they say before dinner. Others do it by giving to others, whether in money or food or time.
Plenty of people found ways to do so this year.
Some were superstars like Pittsburgh Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster. His JuJu Foundation he is teaming with Dive Bar & Grille, which has multiple Western Pennsylvania locations, ACORx Pharmacy, and Ten Four Social, a Pittsburgh-based social media marketing agency, to provide 350 home-cooked Thanksgiving meals to the elderly.
There were local women like Molly O’Brien of O’Hara Township and Bethanie Stein of Aspinwall who arranged a free turkey meal delivery to residents in their area. These weren’t any old TV dinners. They were professionally prepared plates from Cornerstone Restaurant in Aspinwall that normally cost $20 apiece.
In Leechburg, Jamie Rimmell was organizing and cooking up the meal she always helps provide through Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church with help from family.
And in Tarentum, Wesley Westerman, 15, found a way to improve on the 14 turkeys he collected and donated to the Allegheny Family Network last year. He did, pulling together 40 turkeys which he donated to veterans through VFW District 29.
Lance: To not respecting the rules. No one wants to wear masks. Like motorcycle helmets or seat belts, they are a safety tool that government leaders have asked us to wear in response to a danger — in this case, the coronavirus pandemic. We are nine months into that crisis, and explaining the need should be unnecessary by now, but here goes: You wear a mask primarily to protect other people from potential infection from you. Wearing a mask is a sign of respect for our common humanity.
Yet some people — like some at recent North Huntingdon commissioners meeting — continue to defy requirements to wear a mask in the building and the meeting room.
While a helmet and a seat belt protect the wearer, the goal of a mask is larger. It is about a widespread effort to tamp down spread of a disease that is now at the height of its spread. This holiday season, let’s give the gift of responsibility and follow the recommendations.