Mike Rowe Encourages 'Sensible Approach' to Dealing with COVID

Tré Goins-Phillips : Nov 18, 2020
Faithwire.com

"I think most of the country is going to come through this with the realization that we're being treated like children and we're being fed platitudes, bromides, and bowls of warm milk by people who want us to look at them as parents." -Mike Rowe

[Faithwire.com] Mike Rowe, known for his common-sense talk, is encouraging Americans to find a "sensible approach" to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. (Screengrab image)

"Far be it from me to instigate a food fight between the extremes, but I will say this—somewhere between the 'Safety Firsters' and 'Covid-Hoaxers,' there's got to be a sensible approach to living in a dangerous world that's eventually going to kill us all,"he wrote Tuesday. "That approach, in my opinion, is 'Safety Third,' a friendly alternative to 'Safety First.'"

Rowe was referring to a concept he first introduced in 2014, when he was hosting his popular show "Dirty Jobs." At the time, he told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta he came up with the two-word motto—"Safety Third"—as a way to remind people their safety is their responsibility, and as such, is something they should take seriously for themselves, rather than expecting someone else to keep them from harm.

Watch him talk about it: Click Here

"When I say 'safety third,'" he told Gupta, "it's such a ridiculous thing to hear, that it takes you out of your pattern—at least it did with my crew—and it was the way we reminded each other, 'Look, it doesn't matter. Just because you're in compliance doesn't mean you're out of danger.'"

In his post this week, Rowe explained Americans can't live in so much fear and follow so many stringent restrictions they're no longer functioning in society.

Rowe recalled back to the Mayflower, noting the risks those on the ship took to seek the reward they discovered.

"Four hundred years ago, one hundred and two Pilgrims climbed aboard an eighty-foot boat and sailed three-thousand miles through violent seas to a place they'd never even seen, just so they could worship the God they believed in," he wrote. "Forty-five of them died along the way. Nearly half! But somehow, they endured. And thanks to them, we not only have a Thanksgiving to celebrate, we have a country to call home."

Sitting on the Tarmac in an airplane bound for San Francisco, Rowe thought about the fact that his safety on his trip "was something that no one could promise." He continued:

I wondered in that moment, how the Pilgrims felt when they boarded the Mayflower? I wondered if their Captain assured them that "their safety was his priority?" And then I wondered, what would they make of our reaction to this virus today? What would they think of our decision to lock down our houses of worship, along with everything else, in order to fight a disease that might wind up killing a fraction of a percentage of the population? A disease far less deadly than the plagues they dealt with every year?...

"Safety Third" is not a call to take unnecessary risk, it's just another way to say, "be careful out there, but not so careful that you're unable to function." It's also a good-natured reminder that nothing worthwhile in the long history of our species has ever been accomplished by those whose who were unwilling to assume some degree of risk... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading and watch the videos with Mike Rowe here.