Freedom and Responsibility

Photo courtesy of Tampa Bay Times

Exhibit #1:

A young Latina in Florida is addressing the local council regarding the mandate to wear a mask when leaving the house.  She berates the council members.  She says they will be arrested soon for following the Devil’s law.  She accuses them of being insane.  They will not escape the wrath of God.  It is all a deep state conspiracy, somehow related to the rolling out of 5G cell phone networks.  She says social distancing of six feet between two people at all times is military protocol, and she is having none of it.

Exhibit #2:

A middle-aged White woman is screaming obscenities and flailing around inside a Trader Joe’s Market in North Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles.  The manager and several employees are trying to calm her down, but her rant continues.  She turns to leave the market but stops when she sees she is being filmed with a cell phone camera by another customer.  She says it is she who has a breathing problem and therefore cannot wear the mask.  She claims she has permission to shop without a mask.  She threatens legal action.  Then, she turns and storms out.

Exhibit #3:

A second, somewhat younger White woman has a basket full of grocery items.  She begins throwing each item from her cart around the store.  No employees approach her.  Her tantrum continues until her cart is empty and her items litter the floor in every direction.  She turns and storms out, screaming and threating anyone she sees.

Many of these encounters, especially over wearing masks, come down to the person saying that wearing a mask violates personal freedom.  It does not.  Wearing a mask offers some protection from the spread of COVID-19.

Social media posts for several restaurants in Los Angeles ask that patrons to these newly reopened establishments refrain from berating and insulting, and in one case, assaulting, the employees for following safety protocols put in place by Los Angeles County, the governor and the mayor.  All of these encounters occur while the employees are trying to serve the customers.  The employees must wear full masks and plexi-glass shields to prevent customers and themselves from infection, yet the customers respond with verbal and physical abuse.

All of these people, screaming and flailing around like toddlers, claim their rights are being violated.  Yes, being forced to wear a mask is not comfortable but it slows the spread of the disease.  Where are these “my rights, my body” people when we talk about abortion, or the freedom to express ourselves as LGBTQ citizens?  What about the freedom to be Black and walk home from the grocery store without facing physical violence and death at the hands of law enforcement who have sworn to protect us?  If we are asking for personal freedom, it must be for all of us.  Poverty, racial hatred, lack of opportunity for education—those are causes worth fighting for that affect every American.  Screaming and stomping one’s feet over wearing a mask to prevent transmission of a deadly virus—get over it.

No one is exempt from COVID-19 infection.  Our careless, gratuitous, gluttonous, sickening need for instant gratification only raises our chance of infection.  There is no cure, no vaccine, no pharmaceutical that prevents COVID-19 or mitigates its virulent and deadly rampage.  Not real, you say?  Hoax, you say?  There are 126,000 plus Americans who would disagree if they could speak.  Unfortunately, they are dead of COVID-19 and can only testify with their absence.

Freedom demands responsibility.  Being part of humanity demands we see ourselves as connected, inextricably, with each other.  Democracy, as the ancient Greeks who invented it remind us, is a team sport.  And as the cliché goes, there is no “I” in team.

In short, WEAR THE DAMN MASK!!!

Those ubiquitous signs:  “We are in this together.”  “We’ll get through this together.”  We have no choice but to get through this together.  There is no personal freedom without the responsibility to give others the same freedoms.  We must rely on each other AND protect one another.

It is our humanity that we have lost in all of this.  Violence, rights, self-determination, political theater, self-aggrandizement, narcissism, lies, lies, lies—it is all wrapped up in this now.  We must sort it out and return to decency and ethical human behavior.

Take responsibility for yourself and others:  put on the mask.  It really is that simple.