The World is Reopening for You…

26 May 2020

…but not for me.  

Please understand that I get the need to have our economy up and running. Having the mighty the mighty machine of American commerce dead in the water is a very bad situation. People from all walks of life are suffering.  But economic pain is not the only element to be considered here.

Science says that this is a pandemic, it is not a hoax.  Science says older people, especially older people who serious health issues are at significant and material risk of suffering from a highly infectious, unusually lethal and very contagious disease. I am an older person with a comprised state of health.  If I become infected, I stand a god-awful chance of death or long-term debilitating illness. 

Put quite simply this is my stance on where things stand.  I do not want to have a stroke, a heart attack, my lungs shredded or die because you don’t feel comfortable wearing a mask in public or because you think maintaining a six-foot social distance is ridiculous. As a citizen you have an obligation to get beyond your own selfishness.

But Freedom man, Freedom.

Thomas Paine addressed this rallying cry of the gun toting, no facemasks and crowded bunch.  To wit:

“While the Declaration of Rights was before the National Assembly some of its members remarked that if a declaration of rights were published it should be accompanied by a Declaration of Duties. The observation discovered a mind that reflected, and it only erred by not reflecting far enough. A Declaration of rights is, by reciprocity, a Declaration of Duties also. Whatever is my right as a [hu]man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”

―The Rights of Man

Like you I am guaranteed the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When you know, and the science is there for you to know, that your decisions to crowd me while not wearing a facemask, especially when you have to been to crowded beaches, bars and restaurants, is placing me at a much increased risk of death, you are not holding up your part of the citizenship bargain. You are being a selfish lout.

I would love things to go back to normal as soon as possible.  But that is simply not possible. But we can start moving in that direction if you start fulfilling your part of the democratic bargain.  Fine, wave your guns about.  But wave your guns about in a manner that is consistent with the behaviors required of a citizen living with the burdens and obligations they owe to other citizens. That is right, wear a mask on when you are in public and be appropriately socially distanced. If you do that, maybe then I will be able to venture out safely.