Run, Dr. Acton, Run!

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​RUN, DR. ACTON, RUN!

     Ah, be still my heart!
     Said organ has been all a-flutter ever since I spotted this headline in Friday's Columbus Dispatch:

    For those who are unapprised of what the above news is referring to, it is referring to Dr. Amy Acton, physician, professor of Public Health at the Ohio State University and former director of the Ohio Department of Health, who apparently is considering running for the U.S. Senate to fill the seat of retiring Ohio Senator Rob Portman.
     While many Americans are at least somewhat familiar with long-time Republican Senator Portman by name and perhaps by reputation and character,

...Amy Acton may be less well-known on the national scene than she is among Ohioans.
​      Here in Ohio Dr. Acton's name became a household word and her face a well-known one last year when she was in the front and center of Governor Mike Dewine's daily coronavirus briefings,  

...during which she kept us informed and up-to-date in her soothing but authoritative voice on everything concerning the COVID-19 epidemic, 

...especially how to stay safe and avoid spreading the virus to others.

        Who among us here in Ohio didn't look forward each day to Dr. Acton's reassuring presence, her knowledgeable guidance, her clear explanations? Whose fears weren't calmed  knowing that Amy Acton and her team of experts were the generals planning the strategies and leading us in the fight against the COVID epidemic? 
        Who among us didn't trust, admire and love Dr. Amy Acton?
        As it turned out, there were some. 
        When the Ohio Health Department in tandem with Governor Dewine issued public safety  orders such as mask-wearing, social distancing, nightly curfews, school closings, and business restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus, demonstrators protested the orders by congregating daily in front of Amy Acton's house and shouting anti-semitic threats at the gentle doctor, who is Jewish, and her family.        

      The Proud Boys made an appearance among the demonstrators.

      However, while Amy Acton stood firm against the harassment of the demonstrators as well as the invective hurled at her from some Ohio business owners, she was ultimately compelled to leave her office by the right-wing members of the Republican-dominated Ohio State Legislature.
      When the Republicans in the Ohio Senate began crafting and introducing bills to strip the Health Director of her authority to oversee public health policy and to reassign that authority to themselves, Dr. Acton resigned her position rather than be forced by self-serving politicians to become their straw woman.     
      Soon after she left her job as State Health Director Amy Acton  joined  the staff of the Columbus Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization whose stated mission is "strengthening and improving our community for the benefit of all its residents." Dr. Acton was hired on as the Foundation's Director of Kind Columbus, an initiative to spread words and actions of kindness in Central Ohio (see post from 11/17/2020, "Director of Kindness"),

...a fitting post for Dr. Acton, who as Health Director regularly wove into her daily COVID-19 update briefings the message of the need for us to care for ourselves and each other .

     And now we've learned that Amy Acton is considering running for U.S. Senate, to which I say -  shout, cheer, beg  - "Run, Dr. Acton, Run!" 
     Our United States Congress is crawling with too many gummy worms, too much rot gut and too many minds hollowed out by greed and self-dealing.  Americans could use the addition of a Senator with some spine, brains, soul, and yes, kindness.
     So please run, Dr. Acton. I promise you'll have your first campaign worker right here.

Reference:
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/04/amy-acton-steps-down-columbus-foundation-senate-run/4387971001/

https://www.ailantha.com/blog/director-of-kindness