Editor, OBSERVER:

I started writing a rebuttal to an article written by a lady from Sheridan. After reading what I wrote, I decided it was just another opinion so I scraped it and started a new letter. I am a 90-year-old guy who has lots of opinions but it’s the observations and experiences I most treasure. So much for opinions!

I have become an avid reader and admirer of Winston S. Churchill, the prime minister of England during World War II. In 1940 after France surrendered to the over powering German Army, the battle of Britain began. Churchill knew Adolf Hitler’s next step was the invasion of England. I am sure the readers of this letter heard of the common expression used by the English during difficult times, “Keep a stiff upper lip.”

This great man knew it was critical for keeping moral high in the ensuing danger.

One of the steps he took was to order the military commanders to weed out any negative words or action by the people in the military service. He also asked the news media to help in this effort.

Is there a similarity to 1940 and the present event we are facing with this horrifying virus? Now I stop here. I will not offer an opinion! But I will give an observation. Call it propaganda or just good advice. Before Churchill became prime minster, he was a soldier and a war corespondent during the uprising in India, the Boer War in Africa and World War I and other skirmishes.

Churchill knew it was imperative to keep the morale high among the troops as well as the folks back home that had loved one’s fighting and dying. My other observation is, sometimes the freedoms of the citizens has to be circumvented for the fate of a nation! Impeding our elected officials from doing their jobs is defiantly an obstacle. Abraham Lincoln had a problem with some newspapers when he was trying raise troops using the draft method. He got the job done!

In closing I want to thank everyone that are on the line fighting this virus. The lady from Sheridan quoted a cliche, “We are all in this together.”

To me this means forget the politics and get united in a common cause!

JACK BENSON,

formerly of Dunkirk-Fredonia

Sun City West, Ariz.