Rebecca Freehling Boyd

I am at an age when I remember very clearly the stories my parents told of World War II and the folks we now call the Greatest Generation. These ancestors of ours understood better than any generation since what “personal sacrifice for the greater good” meant.

They went off to war on different continents. Many never returned home.

Women, most for the first time, entered the workplace to keep the country running.

Food and fuel were rationed. Life was really hard. And they rose to the challenge.

Not just for the good of the United States, but for the entire world.

Our country has never really been tested since. Sure, 9/11 happened. We all pulled together in our outrage. We got out our American flags and flew them proudly. But unless you knew someone in the service who went over to the Middle East, you didn’t really experience sacrifice.

So now, our country, the world, all of us, really are being asked to do something as simple as to wear a mask to stop the spread of COVID-19. Many families have experienced the ultimate sacrifice since March.

Our health care workers, our doctors, our nurses, everyone involved in any small way at our hospitals and clinics have and, God willing, will continue to make sacrifices every darn day for each and every one of us.

They work so very hard for us. Can’t we do something for them and ourselves?

Why do I wear a mask? Because it’s the very least I can do. When all of these other people are sacrificing so much, it’s the very least I can do. Compared to the level of sacrifice of the Greatest Generation, it’s so very little.. don’t you think?

Rebecca Freehling Boyd, Marwood, is a small-business owner, school director and member of the Knoch High School Class of 1972.