I love New Mexico. Over 50 years ago I settled in the Española Valley and soon started to raise a family. Like anyone who visits our state, at first I was enchanted by its natural beauty.
Soon after a more profound love grew in me, my love for its people. Above all we cherish our families and neighbors and communities. We express those precious qualities with our hospitality, our various religious faiths and our embrace of our diversity.
Today these values are challenged like never before. Because of a deadly virus ravaging our communities across the country, we are compelled to exercise restraint in expressing our traditional desires to share our lives with one another. This is especially difficult during this holiday season. Our traditions, our get-togethers, our memorials are now potential threats to those we love the most.
It is with some heartbreak that I ask everyone to be cautious and aware of all the risks involved with not being mindful of the precautions and actions that can prevent a tragedy in the future. As hard as it is , we must practice the recommended precautions put in place by trusted, expert members of the scientific, medical establishments.
None of us would want to carry the burden that, even unknowingly, we might be responsible for the sickness, even death, of those we love the most. All family and friends are at risk.
Individually we can only do so much, but together we can rid ourselves of this scourge and live to a brighter future. May God bless my dear Valley and reward our sacrifices.
Dan Morse
Española