There is much tension today between people who are desperate to earn a paycheck, not wear a mask, congregate with friends and family and to generally enjoy the freedoms that Americans have always enjoyed versus those who urge patience and caution in reopening the country.
When someone limits or reduces our freedom, we don’t like it. Having a sense of control over our life is a basic human need. It is especially maddening when others or the government seem to be reducing our freedom unnecessarily, excessively and without our consent. Losing a sense of prediction and control over what happens to us is very upsetting for everyone. When we experience this, things quickly can become emotional; reason, science, facts, future consequences to risky behavior, all take a back seat as we focus on seeking immediate relief from the intolerable affronts to our sense of prediction and control over our life.
Historically, societies that are more democratic have wrestled with the thorny issue of the balance between freedom and security. I’m guessing that most people who fly on our commercial airlines are willing to give up the freedom to mosey to the gates in our airport terminals at their own pace, uninterrupted, in order to feel safer, more secure, because the TSA is looking for threats to the flight we are about to take.
Patrick Henry, the firebrand patriot, succinctly summarized his thoughts on the matter: “Give me liberty or give me death” in response to King George’s oppressive taxation of the American colonies. A clear early example of someone becoming very angry over a government (the British Crown) dictating what will be done without the peoples’ consent or input (representation).
Let us hope the choice we face today is not so dichotomous and extreme, but rather that we can combine our emotion and reason to pursue a wise course of action as to how and when we gradually reopen our state and our country.
Steven M. Ross, Millcreek
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