Freedoms

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight.

It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.”

You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.

Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

POTUS (Played by Michael Douglas), The American President

I realize I’m perpetuating the idea that Hollywood is news or politics, but this is one of the best written Presidential movie speeches of all time. (Second to Bill Pullman’s Independence Day speech, but for completely asinine reasons of being pumped up to kill aliens)

Right now I see tons of back and forth about freedoms – in particular to wear a mask, to not socially distance, to whatever. I struggly daily watching the number of cases in our area soar to new heights – so much so it basically made staying inside since March pointless – so there went the dutiful 100 days I spent.

That said, I keep thinking – is wearing a mask a “freedom” right now? Ever the analyst, I find it hard to take a side on this issue. What’s good for me and my family, may not be good for another and I struggle. Personally, we wear masks and at this point in the “game”, this is a “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service” kind of world that I’d like to live in. I love that meme about pee:

I basically want to understand now…is it a freedom to pee on other people? Because I feel like now that we’re at this stage of virus escalation, that if we all wore masks (which in my opinion is easier than social distancing and avoiding touching your own face…seriously try that, it’s impossible for me) that we’d get back to a safe normal faster.

But then again, I have many brethren – being from Texas and all – that feel like me even considering asking them to wear a mask is like shackling them, like asking them to….wear pants as my little helpful meme up there so dutifully illustrates…..

So I’m asking the internet…if it’s not okay to pee on each other, then why is it okay to spread scarier-than-normal germs to each other? Is the answer to “no mask” always social distancing? If so, how often is that really being practiced? (If you look at my Facebook friend’s walls alone…it’s not)….why is it socially acceptable to wear pants but not masks in this “environment” – I mean trust me, if we ever get back to the Garden of Eden nudity thing to a vote, I’m voting nudity people, it’s just easier.

Help me understand.

Photo Cred: Car & Driver Magazine Meme Cred: Marc Lipsitch