Letter to the editor: Our leaders are trying to protect us

Concerning health, safety and well-being, many people believe it’s their right to choose what’s best for them and their families, and do not want to be mandated regarding masks and vaccines. How would they have reacted at the time of World War II? When air raid warning signals sounded, would they have refused to turn off outside lights or close their blackout curtains? Would they be sure no bombs would be dropped on their house, but if one did, only their house be damaged? Might they wonder who those air wardens think they are, patrolling with shielded flashlights to see why houses aren’t dark? (My dad was a volunteer warden.)

I haven’t done research on this part of our history, but I was a preteen living in Allegheny County when the war began. Lying in bed and hearing a plane overhead was frightening to me.

Devastation and death from an air raid was an actual possibility then, as is true of covid-19 today. In the 1940s we were thankful to be told what to do. We did not feel dictated to, but we felt we were being protected from the predictable actions of a proven dictator.

Marilyn Sharrow

Brackenridge