Please, Readers, Stay Humane

To the Editor:
Please remind the residents of our county that it is misguided to start attacking people with out-of-state license plates. They could be attacking someone that has actually been in the state for months, long before this viral outbreak. 
There are many who come to a second home in the fall and winter because they have elderly family here or winter work here, and who also may be unable to leave (due to a sense of fairness to others) now that we have a growing number of cases. 
Yes, these are frightening times, but people need to stop over-reacting and making assumptions that every car with an out-of-state license plate is being driven by someone who just got here in the past few weeks. 
We have a home in Middle Township that we bought in 2007 to be close to my elderly mother living alone in North Cape May. It worked out that the neighbors that checked in on her daily during the summer would winter in Florida, leaving her with a skeleton community in the winter. 
That worked for us as we were ready to be done with the harsh Northern New England winters, and, as long time (pre) residents of the county, we had many good connections for work and extended family. 
Area stores and businesses know as us locals that have been contributing to the community. We do have out-of-state tags, but we are part of this community and came long before the outbreak as we do every winter. 
This past week with the growing hostile nativism we have been attacked and told to go home, to “go back” where we came from. I have been walking and training one of my dogs on the local beaches twice daily for the past year and half. I have to say that those that have attacked us for our out-of-state plates might have noticed us long before now had they actually been local. I have to wonder if they actually came down from another part of New Jersey to escape the virus and in a failed attempt to deal with their fear and guilt, turn to attacking others. 
Point being, some people with out-of-state tags may have been here longer, long before the outbreak, than those with in-state tags. I say this because, again, I am training a dog full time, on leash on the beaches where we are permitted, and in the past three weeks I have seen a huge spike in cars with New Jersey tags. 
So, if readers think they are making a difference by targeting out-of-state tags. Think again. 
Please stay human during this crisis. The governor’s request that people shelter in place is working for the most part. Since the huge hoarding frenzy the previous two weekends, the streets are largely deserted. 
Most importantly, for your own health and the health of your family and community, do some internet searches on how anger and fear have been proven to suppress the immune system. There is no shortage of studies showing that fear, anger, stress and all the emotions that hate gives rise to, lower T-cell counts dramatically and spike cortisol levels. 
Laughter, love, prayer, have all shown to stimulate the immune system and increase health.