La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

It was clear to me as early as 2008 that a pandemic was at hand. The symptoms were easier to ignore than to acknowledge. Some embraced and reveled in the early stages of this malady. Doctors began pointing to the symptoms, only to have their opinions dismissed. Clergy, mental-health professionals and lay people tried to stem the spread, and some began organizing to stop it.

By 2016 this pandemic had spread to almost every corner of the United States. No one assumed responsibility for the finger-pointing; it always was someone else’s fault. As the illness spread it became easier to spot,...