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The True Citizen, Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — Page 5A
Michael N. Searles
SAN FRANCISCO VALUES
Ronda Rich
THE CONSTITUTIONAL IMPORTANCE OF A TELEPHONE
"San Francisco values" is a
term often used pejoratively to
reference cultural, social and
moral attributes associated with
the city of San Francisco. The
same values form the founda
tion of what is known as West
Coast liberalism.
The term, used by conserva
tive pundits during the con
servative movement of the
mid-1990s, received new life
with the ascendancy of San
Francisco representative Nan
cy Pelosi to Speaker of the
Flouse in 2007. The Augusta
Chronicle warned that Pelosi
will be speaker and her “far-
left San Francisco values — gay
marriage, cutting and running
from Iraq, coddling terrorists,
raising taxes, amnesty for ille
gals — will become the House
agenda." In other words, San
Francisco, with its progressive
values, was leading America in
the wrong direction.
There is a notion that “real
Americans” live in the nation’s
heartland and those living on
the West Coast are less authen
tic. However, the tables have
been turned when the rate of
COVID vaccinations are ex
amined. The fully vaccinated
rates of the following heartland
states: Wyoming (41.6%), Kan
sas (50%), Oklahoma (47%),
and Texas (50%) lag behind
California’s (54.2%). San
Francisco has a fully vaccinated
rate of 71%. It also seems that
San Francisco is increasing its
efforts to reach the remain
ing unvaccinated with a new
multimedia campaign. These
innovative efforts include pro
viding incentives, collaborating
with community organizations,
animated videos showing how
the vaccine works, and videos
and images made in several
different languages. The images
are being placed on billboards
in the city’s southeast neighbor
hoods and on buses and at bus
stops. The approach seeks to
reach people where they live
and ensure that their questions
are answered.
Choosing a specific state
gives us some insight how the
heartland is coping and com
bating COVID. In Oklahoma,
more than 1,300 people are
hospitalized with the virus,
36 of which are children. The
Saint Francis Health System of
Tulsa says it is currently caring
for more than 200 COVID-
positive patients. The hospital
mentioned over the last few
weeks, the number of cases has
plateaued and is now starting to
decline and should continue to
drop as more people get vac
cinated.
Officials say COVID will be
around for some time but hope
with vaccinations it will be
come more manageable. In the
heartland, the key issue seems
to be personal choice while
in California the issue seems
to be citizen safety. There is a
widely held belief that protect
ing oneself against COVID is
a personal choice. This posi
tion works on the assumption
that COVID only affects the
infected person.
We have possibly been
presenting the wrong question.
Instead of asking if a person
has a right to reject a vaccine,
maybe we should ask “Does
anyone have the right to infect
others?” The answer to this
question seems to be a resound
ing, NO! A woman in Penn
sylvania recently was arrested
after coughing on a drive-thru
worker because she didn’t like
receiving her drink in a to-go
cup carrier and tried to return
it. The employee explained that
the drink holder was a precau
tion to help prevent physical
touching. The employee further
stated that once items leave the
restaurant, they can’t re-enter,
but the woman began intention
ally coughing on the employee,
saying, “I hope you get COVID
and die.” The employee was
immediately sent home and
self-quarantined for 14 days
due to potential exposure to
coronavirus. The woman was
arrested and faces charges of
assault, recklessly endangering
another person and disorderly
conduct.
Similar incidents have been
reported in various parts of the
country and shine a light on
how a private matter can be
come a public one. While man
dating a government vaccine
may be considered an assault
on personal liberty, recklessly
endangering another person’s
life is legally a criminal assault.
Maybe more places should
adopt San Francisco values.
There it hung, solemnly,
in all its glory on my grand
mother’s kitchen wall. It was
something to be proud of and
each month that she paid a few
dollars to the Standard Phone
Company, she was, indeed,
proud.
And grateful to the good
Lord because she would some
times stop to remind us, “Pride
goeth before destruction, saith
the Good Book.”
It just occurred to me the oth
er day of how that black rotary
phone was a prince among the
poor. My grandparents lived
in a four-room, tin-roof house
with a front porch that sighed
from weariness of the toil and
heartache it had endured. There
was no indoor bathroom. An
old wringer-style washing
machine set on the back porch.
Of that, she was very proud,
too. After all, she had spent
most of her life scrubbing
clothes on a washboard either
in a tin tub or down at the creek.
I really don’t know how they
came to have a telephone with
times always seeming so hard.
But come to think of it, there
was always a bit of money for a
dip of snuff. She cherished that
little tin that she carried around
in the pocket of her apron.
In the early days of tele
phones and electricity in the ru
ral mountains, there were two
certainties: the phone would
hang on the kitchen wall and a
single cord would hang down
over the kitchen table with a
naked lightbulb.
Nothing was fancy.
In our home, we prefer land-
lines. Between Mama’s house
and ours, we have four land-
lines that are used regularly.
Mama’s is 100 yards, across
the creek, from our front door
yet there is no cell service
there.
We live less than two miles
from a tower.
Many people have given up
landlines and gone strictly to
cellular phones and to those I
know, I say, “If you ever watch
someone drop lifeless at your
feet, you’ll want the comfort
of getting 911 on the phone in
the seconds.”
I’m afraid I know that for
a fact.
Where we live, sometimes it
will take 10 to 12 seconds for
a cell call to connect. Some
times, it doesn’t connect at all.
One day, I was cooking
when the phone rang. I looked
at the caller I.D. on the one
next to the stove.
A number flashed under a
name.
John Grisham.
Yes, THAT John Grisham.
When I first dreamed of writ
ing books, I read a story about
him that inspired me. He was
working as a lawyer and was a
state legislator in Mississippi.
His schedule was packed but
he arose an hour early each
morning to write. That disci
pline resulted in “A Time To
Kill”.
My heart stopped for a sec
ond. I knew it wasn’t for me.
“Tink!” I called up the stair
case. “John Grisham is call
ing!”
He answered the phone and
I sat down for a moment, cra
dling the phone in my hands
and smiling. John Grisham had
called my phone number.
He, too, was calling from a
landline.
It’s ironic, sometimes, the
things that will come out in
challenging times like when a
vims threatens nations. Here’s
one of those ironies: No cases
can be argued in person before
the U.S. Supreme Court. Law
yers must call in and debate
cases of tremendous consti
tutional importance by tele
phone.
Landlines.
That’s what the guidelines
instruct. No smartphones
should be used to carry forth
grave legal matters. This has
caused some young lawyers
to scramble, especially if their
offices were closed due to the
pandemic. They needed to find
a landline in order to call the
U.S. Supreme Court.
For those of you who might
need a landline for constitu
tional or even personal rea
sons , the Rondarosa graciously
offers one of ours. You can
use the kitchen wall phone at
Mama’s or a living room phone
at our house.
We are proud to offer this
service. Even though I am
mindful that “pride goeth be
fore destruction.”
Ronda Rich is the best-sell
ing author of There’s A Better
Day A-Comin’. Visit www.
rondarich.com to sign up for
her free weekly newsletter.
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