In an opinion article for the Washington Post, Micheline Maynard wrote about the business-consumer relationship in the COVID-19 pandemic era. She discussed the pandemic’s damage to the U.S. supply chains and how people have not adjusted to this negative impact. Maynard asserts that essentially, Americans are spoiled and lack compassion and pragmatism during such perilous times. Maynard calls for a lowering of expectations during this time.
Maynard’s defeatist appeasement is appalling. Moreover, her suggestion to acquiesce to inferior standards is detrimental to society. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Across the country, Americans’ expectations of speedy service and easy access to consumer products have been crushed like a Styrofoam container in a trash compactor,” Maynard wrote. “Time for some new, more realistic expectations.”
To this, I agree, but those realistic expectations should be getting back to normal as quickly and efficiently as possible — not accepting a new normal in which supply does not keep up with demand. This is the United States of America, and we should not accept anything less.
Yes, the pandemic affected things. Yes, it is a once-in-a-lifetime tragedy that necessitated society to make many adjustments. However, throughout history, it has always been darkest before the dawn in the U.S. The country has been at its best when faced with daunting challenges. Contrary to what many liberals and Democrats like to say, perseverance and resiliency in difficult times are what has made this country great. Overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds is what separates us from the rest of the world. Now is not the time to lower expectations but rather raise them.
“Rather than living constantly on the verge of throwing a fit, and risking taking it out on overwhelmed servers, struggling shop owners or late-arriving delivery people, we’d do ourselves a favor by consciously lowering expectations,” Maynard wrote.
Could you imagine if such an attitude was embraced through some of the great challenges in our country’s history?
Imagine such sentiment during the American Revolution.
“The British defeated us at Brandywine and now occupy Philadelphia. Maybe we should have some new, realistic expectations about this independence thing. I hear Valley Forge is lovely in the winter.”
Picture thinking this way during World War II, right before the Battle of Midway.
“President Roosevelt, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, destroyed our Pacific fleet, and have summarily beaten us in every battle since then. Maybe we should consciously lower our expectations and allow them to take over the Pacific brutally. After all, do we really need Hawaii as a territory?”
Consider how such thoughts would have occurred during Apollo 13.
“We can’t figure out how to get the astronauts back to Earth, Mr. Kranz. I know you said, ‘Failure is not an option,’ but maybe you should set more realistic expectations.”
It’s fair to acknowledge the challenges the pandemic created. Supply chains were affected, which caused shortages throughout the country. This was an undeniable inconvenience. But there is a fine line between throwing a temper tantrum because a store was out of stock of a favorite food item and demanding accountability and efficiency from our government. Accepting “new, more realistic expectations,” as Maynard argued, is admitting defeat.
This is not the American way. Not now, not ever.
