Americans are an independent lot. Proud too. I’m not religious but I do know the Bible does contain some useful wisdom, such as pride goes before the fall. (Which I guess the complete King James Version wording is: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18.)
We’re at a weird juncture of this COVID-19 pandemic. To re-open or not to re-open, that is the question.
Well, re-opening has never been a question. We have to.
The question is when? How? (Okay, so that should read “The questions are…”)
The pro-open side feels their rights are being trampled on. They didn’t sign up to live in a “socialistic” country. Don’t tell them what to do.
(Yet, ironically, many of these are the same people who want to tell gay people not to marry, women not to have abortions, and they drive on streets paid for with collective tax dollars and send their kids to public schools so talk about hypocrites who want to have their cake and eat it too. Although I’m with them on that. Why have cake if you’re not going to eat it? That’s a waste of a baked good!)
Anyway, the point is, they don’t care about the common good. They only care about themselves and what’s best for them.
It’s hard to blame them. Whether we realize it or not, that’s the cultural concept most of us have been raised with. It’s one of the tenets in our country’s Declaration of Independence. “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
People define happiness by many different measures, but most would agree –especially now after enduring it being taken away from us– that freedom is happiness.
Being on quarantine lockdown sucks.
I get it. I really do.
But I also have a liberal socialist in me who knows there are times you have to sacrifice for the common good.
Whether that means sacrificing our economy or people’s lives, though…this is one of those Catch-22 ethical dilemmas that there’s no right answer to. And it’s where we find ourselves now.
I have said this many times since March: I do not envy our political leaders. They’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t.
Unless we have a second wave that creates overflowing hospitals like Italy and New York saw in Phase 1, there’s certainly a growing number of people who would rather take their chances and just be open again.
I saw a debate on Nextdoor today where someone shared a quote I don’t think I’ve seen since high school: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
I had to look up what that was from, because I knew the quote but could not remember the who, what or why behind it.
Patrick Henry said it in a speech where he urged the American colonies to revolt against England.
God help them, there are many who would rather choose death –if this novel coronavirus strain still has the power to wreck the kind of havoc that’s had us on lockdown social distancing for weeks.
Or has it all gone away? (I don’t see how it could, but what do I know? Admittedly, nothing.)
So what’s going to happen next?
I almost think you have to let the monkeys out of the zoo to find out for themselves.
I won’t be one of them, but I wish those who can’t abide their freedoms being taken away for the sake of the many well. Let them be the guinea pigs. I imagine we’ll know by June 1 if all is well. Our health system will either be able to handle all cases or it won’t. Maybe we’ve somehow already reached herd immunity.
I don’t know.
All I know is, what good will liberty do me if I’m dead and can’t enjoy it?