The Black Card: Big Mama Said A Hard Head Makes A Soft…Let’s Flatten The Curve – Stay Home!

By Terry Allen
Columnist

I know way too many Big Mama(s) who used to say that during my lifetime. When it was said to me upon certain occasions as I was growing up, it meant somebody was about to feel pain from a tree branch switch, extension cord, or the back of a shoe. 

Everybody understood the actuality of punishment after choosing to do something that was not an approved item in the Big Mama playbook. That statement was always directed at undesirable child behavior and the severe repercussions received afterwards. 

I allowed peer pressure; misinformation and personal desire to get me in a place where my decisions rendered undesirable outcomes! As a child that meant severe punishment for me. I survived the outcomes yet there were times when I was not so sure I would make it. I learned to take heed to instill actions that prevent those undesirable outcomes, and it worked.

So here we are with the cases of COVID-19 in Texas and in the USA reaching unmanageable levels! Why? How did we get here? 

New words have entered our domain. The latest one is super-spreader. What is a super spreader? According to MIT, the word is a generic term for unusually contagious individuals or groups who have been infected with disease enabling the ability to infect two-three more individuals in contact and creating a multiplier effect when groups gather with a critical mass. 

Certain publics (citizens) decided not to social distance, not wear masks and more. Expert medical opinion as well as the facts of the death toll does not seem to impact behavioral change! CBS news reported that the coronavirus is surging across the country. 

For the first time, all 50 states are seeing a rise in daily COVID-19 cases, according to a CBS News analysis. A few governors across the country are practically begging residents to follow health safety guidelines. Texas is teetering between the first or second state on the list! It is the first state to top 1 million COVID-19 cases. 

I am left wondering if those individuals have a Big Mama that can bring them to reason and allow all us to have a collective effort to flatten the curve. 

Maybe Big Mama can give them the scripture she gave me–Leviticus 26:18-21.

I am hopeful we will collectively slow the spread and save lives. What are your thoughts? 

Terry Allen is an award-winning media professional, journalist, and entrepreneur. He is also the founder of City Men Cook and 1016 Media.