The response by me to the revealing and troubling stories about humans purposely ingesting Ivermectin as a cure or protection against COVID-19 is very difficult to express.

The reason is simple. A man I am related to by marriage was a believer in this product, took it in the belief it would do what the quacks who promoted it said it would, and now he is ill with COVID-19.

This individual is in his mid-80s, holds degrees in engineering, has worked around the world, is smart, thoughtful and compassionate. He also is the father of two daughters, several grandchildren and has set the worst possible example for them by participating in just one of the many frauds that is keeping this pandemic alive, spreading, infecting and eventually killing so many.

Concerning COVID, it is easy for me to criticize leaders I don’t know very well if at all. Governors Stitt, Abbott and DeSantis have blood on their hands because they are putting themselves, their political aspirations and the ignoramuses who follow them ahead of common sense, wise public health policy and plain human decency.

I don’t know those guys. They are not going to listen to me and apparently the only impediment to their further irrational machinations is defeat next year at election time. That I can and will work to help accomplish.

However, I do not have an answer for a person who seems so rational, so informed, so imbued with love for his family; who has been so conversational over many Thanksgiving and Christmas meals; who now has taken personal actions likely to injure or kill himself.

Sadder still is the fact that this country is home to about 85 million more just like him.