I have vivid memories of the early 1940’s when we came together as a nation during world war two. Everyone, all of us, lived with rationing of food, gasoline, clothing and all the usual and common needs or desires of the time. We grew victory gardens for some of our food. We conducted scrap metal drives and all of us, worked together to win that war. I recall this very well. I am tempted to suggest, wearing a mask to stop the spread of coronavirus is much like our collective behavior for winning a war during the early 1940"s. Or doing this for the "common good".

We do this because COVID-19, a silent virus is with us and we want to protect each person in our personal space. Yes, please continue wearing face masks, keeping the 6 foot distance, washing hands, staying home when feeling sick!! All for the “Common Good”. Or protecting each other. All of us are in this together protecting ourselves and each other much like those years. We succeeded many years ago and we can do it again, acting for the common good. Like driving a car on the right side of the highway and wearing seat belts for the common good. We can also do this.

— Gloria Olson, Redmond

Despair at senior centers

Ordinarily, our senior residences function well, but I would like to raise awareness of the suffering that this segment of our population is experiencing due to the COVID restrictions they must adhere to in their residences.

Not all residences function in the same way, but generally speaking, all of our seniors must endure prolonged separation from their families and friends. This is not a little thing. They have been virtual “prisoners” in their units, some units as small as one room and a bathroom. They have had to endure months of eating their meals in their room daily, without any socialization, eating on paper and plastic goods, the same meals, week after week.

A friend of mine knows a 93-year-old female who has related to her the extreme, clinical depression which is becoming commonplace. One of her friends has to endure the penalty of another week inside her unit because of a few hours with out-of-town relatives, people she loves, and needed to see to keep her sanity. To quote my friend, “The only thing we have left in this world is our family, everything else is gone.”

This helps to reveal the level of despair they are facing. All the while not having one incidence of COVID disease or death from it in her facility.

Something must be done to alleviate the emotionally damaging situation that our senior/elder population is facing. Please either call Gov. Brown on 503-378-4582 or go to oregon.gov/gov/pages/contact.aspx and leave her a message to let her know how our seniors are suffering. Remember that their safety is our number one consideration.

— Donna McDonnell, Sunriver

Live by law and order

Our world is turning upside down…the rioting, looting, killing, defacing and toppling of our National Monuments. What’s next? Our U.S. currency has some of those same faces on it that the out of control idiots want gone. Will they be burning our money next?

We live in the best country the world has ever seen. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights has been our “go to” when things go awry. Please let’s get back to the basics and live by law and order. We need our police departments and fire departments. They keep us safe from the lawless people. I pray that the majority of Americans see what is happening to our cities. Tearing down our statues and committing mayhem has got to stop.

— Judy Thorgeirsson, Bend

Bring back civility

Oh my. It is hard to know how to address Gary Leiser’s vitriolic, hate-filled letter. Why has true discourse gone by the wayside and been replaced with name calling and close mindedness? We are all Americans and most of us love our country. There will always be a disagreement on issues, and on whom to vote for, but please let us not lose our civility.

— Cecilia Bryant, Redmond

Mask must cover

I’m writing this because I keep running into one thing: people who are wearing masks but not really covering their mouth and nose. Several times in workplaces, young employees who have to wear a mask all day, are pulling it off of their noses. They have no guilt. They don’t like being reminded that their noses are no longer covered. Yesterday I reminded them that their nose wasn’t covered, and they acted like they didn’t even hear me.

There is also the dynamic that employees don’t seem to think that when they are only with coworkers that they need to leave their masks on...

— Barbara Cella, Bend