America must face ebola, other impending threats

Sometimes it seems our nation is like a student with senioritis when it comes to addressing the big issues. We see the need for action mounting like a storm cloud on the horizon. All of the experts and data point to a need to get to work right away to face the approaching tempest, yet, instead of redoubling our efforts to prepare for action in facing the needs plainly nearing, we slack off. Sometimes we debate whether we can even believe what the radar has clearly shown to be heading our way. Then, as the last minutes tick away, we quickly realize there isn’t much time left before things get totally out of hand. The winds pick up and sacrifice some to needless loss. In this hour of do or die, sometimes the last minute cram sessions come through. Sometimes they don’t.

Ebola is an example of America’s senioritis. Everyone knew how serious of a disease Ebola was and that it is nothing to mess around with or joke about. Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding. It is spread through contact with infected body fluids. Ebola as of now does not have a cure, and it has led to thousands of deaths in West Africa. When the outbreak in West Africa started to get serious, the United States realized how big of a problem it could become, but what did we do about it then? Yes, we sent people to help, but not nearly enough. We didn’t really make that big of deal about it until the first two Americans were diagnosed with ebola while they were doing mission work in West Africa. Shortly after that, the whole ebola outbreak blew up after the first case was found in Texas. What would the ebola outbreak look like now if the United States got on top of it right away and had been working on this even before the outbreak got serious?  Maybe it wouldn’t have even come to our shores.

There are many serious challenges facing our nation, and maybe it’s time we start making a change in the way we go about solving them. We need to leave the politics aside, listen to the educated, do our homework and dig in daily. Ebola is just an example. Stopping the growth of ISIS is another. As is climate change.

Now that ebola has spread to the United States, people are realizing how serious of a problem it is. After the recent case of the Liberian who came to America after contracting the disease, there is now a potential of about 48 more cases. The spread of ebola in the United States hasn’t become a huge problem yet, but we need to stay on this issue and educate ourselves — all of us — on what to do.

As of now, there is no medicine that can be given to the ebola patients to cure it, and the Liberian man that was found here died on Wednesday. The United States needs to get on top of the ebola outbreak before it is too late. It’s time we stop the twittering, move to the front of the class and prepare to ace this test. It would be even greater if we could apply this lesson to many of the other mounting trials plainly approaching on America’s horizon.

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