When You Seriously Think About It, How Much "Freedom" Has Been Lost?

 Okay folks, let's get real. In all seriousness, how much "freedom" if you will, have been lost as a result of the Covid-19 shelter-in-place? I mean seriously, when you think about it, have we really "lost" freedom or have we been temporarily inconvenienced? Slavery?  Really?

Like anyone else, I am more than ready to get out of the house and go about my normal routine; however, our current situation restricts me from doing so. I don't consider this a loss of my freedom though. We have been dealing with and are still dealing with a virus that is highly contagious and one that carriers of it can be asymptomatic. Yes, you can be infected and infecting others and not know it. It can be unbeknownst to you and to the people around you, hence the wearing of masks and the social distancing policies. 

I've been watching this rebellious nonsense by many who quite frankly if they were to become ill due to their selfish behavior, I would not have one wit of compassion. I have lost colleagues, and friends due to this virus who had their entire lives ahead of them. One was only forty-six years

old had just received his Doctorate degree and leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. (photo to left)

These rebels without a cause (at least they think they have one) are endangering their own lives and the lives of others to go to a beach? A nail salon? The boardwalk?  Again I say, really? Seriously? We have been in this situation for over two months now and we still do not have a handle on how it is spread, who catches it, how various bodies react to it or whether or not it is mutating or stabilizing. We are still trying to figure out if you get it and survive it, are you now immune to it?

The folks in these photos willfully defying the Stay-at-home recommendations and being all up in each other's faces are playing with an element that they know not of. They think they are being smart, funny, or that they know more than the scientists and doctors who made the policies.  They are listening and following a president whose vocabulary taps out at "good," "bad," "sad," "many" and a few more kindergarten words. Oh and lest I forget the word "Obama."  That word he knows backward and forwards. However, I digress.

These are crazy times and we will not be able to move forward if folks keep behaving in ways that are going to set us back. As sure as I am writing this, the areas in which these folks in the photos live are going to quickly start showing spikes in the number of COVID-19/Coronavirus cases. Mark my words. It did not or does not have to be but for the blatant defiance of things that have been put into place to help us to stay safe and for the virus to move on or at least slowdown.

With foolish behavior as shown in these photos, there is no telling when we will come out of this because we will keep going in what I call a "stupid loop." Okay, so what you got a chance to go outside and go to the beach, get some sun and walk the boardwalk, but the question is going to be, was it worth your or your loved ones' life? If you were to ask my colleague's widow or two daughters, I doubt if they would answer yes.

We have crazy demonstrators in Kentucky who hanged an effigy of Democratic state governor Andy Beshear from a tree. Folks going out in droves saying "To Hell with social-distancing and staying home," coughing intentionally on people in stores and restaurants because they are asked to wear a mask, and then we wonder why the country is not healing. It is not going to heal with behavior like this. Something is wrong with too many Americans who can watch our death toll rise above one hundred thousand and still act as if going to the beach is a top priority. There are some seriously seared souls and conscious' out there. Sadly, under our current leadership (or lack thereof) in the White House, we are getting worse and not better.

I need someone to tell me what freedoms we have lost. Yes, we are definitely being inconvenienced. Yes, we are frustrated and tired of being in the house, but a loss of freedom? I don't think so. I can still go to the grocery store; I can cook the food that I purchased at the store; I still have a roof over my head; I can still take a walk or ride my bicycle; I can still call my loved ones and see them on Zoom, FaceTime and Google Meet; and I can cut or wash my own hair. I just don't see what freedom I have lost. There is a difference between losing freedom and being inconvenienced. I'll stop here. I really do not care if you agree or disagree, however, I would have you the reader think about some of the points brought out in the post.

Something to critically think about.