Doing the Right Thing in Difficult Times

These are tough times.

Even for people like me who haven't lost a job, who have plenty to eat and who are not at risk of losing a home, these are challenging times. Nobody on planet earth has lived through a pandemic. Even the best minds in epidemiology don't know when the pandemic might end. We humans, who think we are all powerful and control the planet, have no control over this virus. We are at the mercy of an entity so small that even a regular microscope cannot detect it. It continues to show us that it is in charge. It continues to confuse and confound us by evolving. It keeps showing its power by creating new symptoms in those it afflicts. We may think we understand it, but clearly we do not.

Aside from several canceled trips, two things that have been difficult for me are the uncertainty and boredom.  When will it be safe to travel again? I can handle wearing a mask when I venture to the grocery store or the veterinary clinic. But not knowing when this will end, or at least allow us to return to some degree of normalcy, is the worst.

And I am so bored. I don't bore easily, but I am tired of studying a new photo editing program. I am tired of reading. I am tired of television. And because it's so hot during the day, I am spending too much time indoors.

I am booking trips for US-based travel in 2021, but who knows whether it will be safe to travel even then. I have postponed a routine dental appointment because I don't want someone hovering just inches from my unmasked face as he/she cleans my teeth. I am not living in fear, as some claim, but I am being prudent and cautious.

I know that my idea of "tough times" is pretty insignificant when compared with what so many others are facing. Business closures and high unemployment rates are major threats to this country and its economy. I know that not being able to find my favorite flavor of soup in the grocery store is nothing compared with those who are unable to afford food and must rely on handouts from food banks. I am very fortunate that I have no young children who need to be homeschooled. 

These times are made even tougher by the rampant ignorance of too many of our political 'leaders,' all of them Rethuglicans, who refuse to acknowledge the severity of this pandemic. Even now, when a few hold-out governors are finally issuing mask orders, the governor of Georgia is making it illegal for cities and counties to issue orders mandating wearing of masks while in public. And there are those who claim, falsely and cluelessly, that being forced to wear a mask violates some imagined constitutional rights or the Americans with Disabilities Act (it doesn't. The ADA doesn't address mask wearing). Of course, we mustn't forget the so-called pastors who insist on holding church services during the pandemic after being ordered to not hold them.

All I can say is that ignorance, and a bit of stupidity for good measure, are as prevalent as the virus. And they are just as dangerous to individuals and the common good. I don't care whether you believe the virus and more than 142,000 Americans dead of Covid-19 are a "hoax." We all, as part of the greater community, need to do whatever we can to protect ourselves, our society, our economy. 

I will paraphrase a letter to the editor I saw online recently. Telling people who inform you that you must wear a mask to enter a store "You can't make me" is something a three-year-old having a temper tantrum would say. But guess what? You are not three years old, and you shouldn't be having a temper tantrum over a mask. 

The government requires that you wear a seat belt when in a vehicle. It requires that you obey traffic signs. You have to wear clothes when you are in public. The government sets speed limits on our roads and highways. The government tells you that you cannot smoke inside a restaurant, a bar or on an airplane. So yes, the government does have the right to pass laws and issue mandates for the public good. 

We don't get the benefits of a free society without the responsibilities. You can't have it both ways. Do you want to live in a society where anything goes, where anybody can do whatever he or she wants to do? That certainly is not a society in which I want to live. 

Believe what you will. If you don't want to wear a mask, fine. Go live by yourself in a log cabin in the woods. Become totally self-sufficient. That is your choice. But your refusal to take a small action to protect those with whom you come into does not give you the right to risk my health or the health of others.

So don't be a selfish fool about getting this virus under control. Our businesses and schools cannot reopen, our economy cannot recover, until we do.

It's your choice. It should be an easy thing. Do the right thing.