If you are financially able, we encourage you to help our local businesspeople

By Marty Cheek

We will not know the true magnitude of the coronavirus on the global society and economy for many months. If the experts are right, the final impact for America and all other nations may be on the level of a world war.

The COVID-19 crisis is a true test of our country’s character. It reveals the good in most people. So many of us are helping friends, neighbors and even strangers get through this trying time. The crisis also allows the shadow side of human nature to creep out in some people. This often happens when an uncertainty about the future places a  society in a state of fear.

The United States is seeing a rise in assaults and harassment against Asian Americans. The use of the term “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus” — including by political leaders — fuels ugly prejudices in some Americans toward their fellow citizens of Asian ancestry.

The FBI expects hate crime incidents against Asian Americans will likely surge as the coronavirus spreads and the deaths and devastation increases. The South Valley region has been home to many Japanese-American citizens who faced similar prejudices following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Let us learn the lesson of history and listen to our better angels.

We can get through the COVID-19 crisis as a South Valley community. Many of our small businesses including restaurants and service industries are now financially struggling.

People who have worked hard for years on building a business are seeing the potential of losing them soon. If you are financially able, we encourage you to help these local businesspeople by buying take-out meals from family-owned eateries or purchasing gift cards/certificates from companies such as spas and salons to be used when these businesses re-open.

Life Media Group, the company editor Robert Airoldi and I started seven years ago, is one of the many companies struggling now to pay our bills. Our cash flow has decreased significantly because of the coronavirus’s financial impact on our advertising customers.

We understand their situation. Despite the hardship, we still aim to provide our community newspaper to every home and business during this time of struggle. We believe excellence in journalism is key to creating a healthy community and for the survival of democracy. If we lose our free press, we lose our freedoms.

This is hard for me to do and I write these words with tears in my eyes, but Morgan Hill Life needs your support now. If  you are financially able and wish to support your community newspaper, please send a check for $26 (the number of issues per year) or whatever sum you can afford to Life Media Group, 16360 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill, CA 95037. We also have a PayPal link on the Morgan Hill Life website at www.MorganHillLife.com.

During this time of global crisis, let all of us remember that we are all part of the human family. When a family helps one another through the hard times, their mutual support makes them better than before.

Marty Cheek is the publisher of Morgan Hill Life.