Letter: Don’t kill the American dream of creating a successful small business
To the editor,
–Here’s a big shout out to all small business owners during the last few months for your bravery, your patience, your contribution to our communities here and across America. I was a small retail business owner for 13 years of my life and if I had to live through whats going on now, I would have been bankrupt and my home and all my assets destroyed. If this is the new normal, I am very sad. During this pandemic and now the looting, riots and demonstrations, small business owners have suffered the most. Gone is the American dream that with lots of hard work, risk, and employing others, bringing a needed service or products to our small towns, you can succeed. Small business owners were forced to stay closed during this COVID crisis while many so-called essential large businesses have been allowed to remain open. Now those same small-town stores are being threatened and vandalized by greedy looters and rioters taking advantage of a new crisis. What happened to the COVID guidelines and warnings during the current demonstrations? Even the peaceful ones put many at risk and the possibility of a rise in the number of new cases may put the reopening our towns on hold again. Was there no other way to show solidarity for a terrible situation than to blame all law enforcement, throw away the gains made from sheltering in place, and destroy our towns in the process? When there are no more stores or restaurants in our towns, no one wants to join the police force, and we stay at home watching TV and ordering everything online, will the world be a better place? Are we going to let this be the new normal?
As a volunteer for SCORE helping people start new businesses, I cannot in good conscience continue this work. I am disillusioned and angry that we have allowed this to happen. Go out and support your local business in anyway you can and stop being part of the problem, start looking for solutions. Hurray to those community members called Protect Paso who are helping protect and clean up the messes of crazy greedy people, and to our law enforcement and National Guard for trying to protect us in a sane way. Don’t let fear rule us forever. Fight it with supporting sanity in a world gone crazy.
Kathie Sinor, Paso Robles
Former Small Business owner and SCORE Volunteer
Editor’s note: Letters to the editor are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.
