How wonderful is it to wake up and the most important news that you read this morning is that nearby Clemmons is getting an Aldi grocery store?
Not only did I wake up to that interesting news but I also read an article that mentioned an unheralded benefit of remote learning, no mass shootings or having children practice lockdowns. I think everyone agrees that children will benefit from more in-school time but there is nothing wrong with making a little lemonade out of some very sour lemons.
The pressure cooker that many have lived in is nothing new except that over the last four years our government by tweet has made it worse. I certainly was not surprised that my latest physical revealed a blood pressure that was the lowest it has been in years. My wife and I no longer wake to an immediate discussion of what crazy thing happened last night.
Certainly, the recent killings in Atlanta are heart-breaking, but I have the feeling that this will be a priority for our first Asian-American vice president and the administration around her. Yes, there are other issues like the border surge and a determined effort by one party to undermine voting rights.
As worrisome as all this is, I somehow feel like the adults are in charge of enough of the government to push towards a more appropriate responses instead of tweets. Even if they are complex solutions they will be better than the typical government by tweet that haunted us for the last four years. You will not find me complaining about complex policies that actually solve problems. Focusing on policy instead of grievances might have a better chance of creating solutions that work and actually make things better rather than worse.
Still government-by-tweet was certainly not the only factor in our pressure cooker lives. There is the pandemic made worse by government inaction and the resulting long period of lockdowns without seeing family and friends in person. This was all made worse by a subset of the population who refused the simple gesture of wearing a mask to protect others if not themselves. Now many of the same don’t-tramp-on-my-freedoms group is refusing to get vaccinated. Vaccinations and continuing to wear masks are clearly our best path back to normal life.
I think it is worth remembering that your freedom ends where it starts to endanger others. You might have earned the privilege to drive a car but if you drive it recklessly at eight-five miles per hour on a public highway, I am going to be rooting for the police to arrest you and throw the key away.
With freedom comes responsibility. If you cannot be responsible with your freedoms, someone will likely suffer. Think about how your actions will impact others. Will running that red-light to save two minutes end up steal someone’s life?
It is critical that we think about others when it comes to vaccinations. If enough people don’t get vaccinated, we might be wearing masks for a long time as COVID continues to rage. If everyone gets vaccinated, we might have a normal Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Are you willing to sacrifice a normal year, just to prove that you are a part of a group that most closely resembles the know nothings of the last century?
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