Leading by example ...

I came across an image this morning --- from early May --- of French President Emmanuel Macron leading by example by wearing a well-cut mask emblazoned with the tricolor flag during a public event.

Quite the contrast with our leaders, among them the current U.S. president and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, both of whom seem determined to lead by example --- without.

Here in Lucas County, we've watched during the last few days as the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases ticked up from zero to six, small numbers but significant increases that probably have to do with the increased availability of tests.

In other words, most likely there are plenty of folks out there, perhaps without symptoms, capable of spreading the virus. That becomes more of a concern as social distancing rules and regulations are relaxed and many take that as a sign that reasonable precautions no longer are needed.

So the best strategy is caution as we watch the numbers, hoping for some sort of clarity as June launches and then progresses. Keep your distance, stay away from public gatherings, wash your hands --- and wear a mask if you're mingling in public.

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The New York Times on Sunday devoted its front and a few inside pages to a name-by-name list of some of the nearly 100,000 U.S. citizens who have perished so far of COVID-19.

It was a timely --- and appropriate --- gesture.

But someone out there among my friends then pulled up an issue of The Times from Jan. 25, 1991, when the number of deaths from another viral epidemic, AIDS, passed the 100,000 mark in the United States. The Times played that story under a modest headline half-way down Page 17 --- and didn't even bother to write its own, merely posting an Associated Press report.

Those of us who survived the AIDS pandemic remember well a time when our lives were not valued and know full well that still is the case among many of our fellow citizens, "friends" and relatives. It behooves every LGBTQ person out there, of any age, to remember that.

And to speculate a little about those the white, straight majority consider expendable 30 years later. I'm betting on the immigrants, many of whom are people of color, expected to return to hazardous meatpacking duty in order to keep, as another Times report put it over the weekend, "meat on the table as barbecue season begins." And in Iowa, of course, the livestock industry on track.

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Speaking of homophobia and racism --- I've been bemused during the last week as a once-popular right-wing, racist --- and homophobic --- meme was shared by social media "friends." It's a Photoshop-created image of a passionate kiss involving President Obama and Andrew Cuomo accompanied by gibberish to the effect that Facebook has removed this photograph "so let's share the hell out of it."

Nice older women shared this. As is my policy regarding racist and homophobic stuff, I "unfriended" the first immediately --- but will just watch the other, someone I actually know, for a while to see if this sort of nonsense continues.

What in the world gets into otherwise sensible people?