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I need to apologize. I was wrong.

I drank the kool-aidthe President was dishing out so freely back in March about the coronavirus " being a little like the regular flu... how it's going to disappear, like a miracle...how everything was under control, no need to be concerned at all, because he was not." I believed him and even continued with my family's mid-March spring break trip to California -- and it was ground zero for the corona virus!

Then, unabashedly, I wrote about "surviving" our vacation to Disneyland even as cases in the U.S. increased despite the reality being that Disneyland was shutting down the week-end we flew home. To all the families and friends who have lost loved ones to the virus, I am truly sorry about that.

If I had only known on February 7 howPresident Trump had told writer Bob Woodward that he was "playing it down because you just breathe the air and thats how it's passed and so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus," I would never have been so flippant or disrespectful of your loss.

I know, I know. There was a learning curve, but why is it I still feel like Alice, the little girl who falls through a rabbit hole, lands in Wonderland, and discovers a fantastical place where nothing is quite what it seems and everything seems to work backwards? Being forced to unravel the mysteries and understand this disease and all the problems it is causing should not be my job!

So much of what is going on in our world today leaves me as confused and mystified as Alice when she found herself at the Madhatters Tea Party. Now, since Lewis Carroll's great literary classic became a hit Disney movie, one might think Alice in Wonderland is just a playful children's story, but it is so much more.

In the 1860's, this book was a biting commentary on England's Victorian Age, a period in history when social norms and cultural rules were totally out of whack-- much like they are in our country today.

The Madhatter's Tea Party is probably one of the most remembered moments in the book; a perfect illustration of the madness. If you can, imagine the spinning tea cup ride at Disneyworld colliding with "high tea" at The Russian Tea Room in NYC, The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, The Claridge in London or The Shangri-La in Paris, and that would give you a really good idea of what happens to the rules of society when civil behavior and social politeness fall by the wayside.

Sadly, it seems we are witnessing more and more of such bad behavior on a regular basis as our leaders and society, in general, discard, abuse or use to their own advantage the social norms we have always accepted as part of a civilized society. At the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, nothing was what it seemed or as it should be, and that is what led the very smug Cheshire cat to proclaim himself and all the curious creatures at the tea party "to be mad."

Surprised when he included her in the mix, Alice challenged him and asked how he knew she was mad,too. The Cheshire cat simply replied she must be, because she is here! Well, slap my face! As parents, don't we tell our kids to be careful who they hang out with or where they go because you are known by the company you keep? Did we look the other way whenever they ignored our rules and kept going down the rabbit hole time and again?

Certainly not, but that seems to be what is happening today. America is our Wonderland, and, right now, it seems to me and, especially to some of my travel friends from around the world like tour operators, hotel managers, and guides, that everything about our country is bizarro.

It's Alice's story! Up is down and down is up.Like me, they are angry the doors to travel have been shut down simply because we have been so careless about the virus.They even make comments about us not being good global citizens.

Actually, it was at the suggestion of Jared Kushner, the President's son-in-law, that I was inspired to read the allegoricalAlice in Wonderland for the first time. In Bob Woodward's Rage, Kushner was quoted as saying the best way to understand our President is to study the Cheshire Cat. Other than the "we are all mad" quote, the cat's most significant piece of advice in Alice's quest for truth was simply: "If you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there."

Whereas, I am not really sure if that analogy was intended as a compliment from one of the President's favorite cheerleaders, but it does help me understand our President's consistently changing -- and sometimes chaotic -- management style.No one can deny we have certainly followed him down a rabbit hole and run around Wonderland looking foranswers to the strange and unconventional things happening around us.

There is no doubt our leaders have had a thankless and difficult task, but attending the funeral of a dear friend who died of COVID-19 last week was my wake up call. I am tired of covid. It is time to get real, folks; we must get together. Our country needs us to do so, and, quite selfishly, so many small businesses like mine need you to do so, too. We must figure out a way to stop this virus, the division and the heartbreak it has left us struggling with.

The sooner we get on the same page, the sooner we will be able to enjoy the wonder in our world again! I am so ready to go.Aren't you, too?

Dianne Newcomer is a travel agent at Monroe Travel Service. Due to the pandemic,our staff is working remotely, so, for help with your vacation plans, please call 318 323 3465 or contact us at info@monroetravel.com.

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COVID-19 must be defeated to get back to normalcy - Shreveport Times