Making the Right Choice
Op-Ed: Fred Rodriguez
Ya know, I still have hope, but I can’t help seeing the parallels between the COVID-19 virus outbreak and that of the HIV outbreaks of the 1980s.
People are resisting the use of masks as much as the gay community resisted the use of condoms during the AIDS crisis. Their anger and fear then spread throughout the country, and with EDUCATION as well as the unfortunate loss of many loved ones, their attitudes changed. As AIDS and HIV hit closer and closer to home and affected a family member, a friend, a partner, the excuses, and the reasons for not using protection just started to not make sense anymore.
People are arguing that is about personal choice and personal liberties. And you know what? It is. It is a personal choice to be selfish, to be arrogant, to be completely and utterly dismissive of the people around you. The “me” attitude that has been so pervasive in our country for so long has now become a fatal characteristic. When did we as a society decide that the needs of one outweigh the needs of the many? The hypocrisy of the so-called religious right is dumbfounding. Scripture says to love thy neighbor as you would love yourself, it tells us to watch over those that are less fortunate, to watch over the sick, and the most simple way to do that is to wear a mask! When you cannot see that your expression of personal freedom is potentially a death sentence for someone else, the level of selfishness is off the charts. And that, is not Christian like, or within the tenets of any religion. Except, perhaps, those who worship the almighty dollar.
Wearing a mask, like wearing a condom, protects you and the person your with. The person you purport to love, the person you have claimed to look out for through your religious commitment. Like condoms, wearing masks must become the new norm. And while there is still a small minority of barebackers, they are now the exception and not the rule. And even then, their views are archaic and selfish. Much to our country’s detriment that is the only type of leadership we are seeing from the man in the Oval Office and those in Congress that are following his Jonestown philosophy, however archaic and selfish.
It is up to us to realize that we need to take control of our own choices because they directly impact our health and that of those around us. It is a choice. A choice to not be selfish, to not be a douchebag, to not be a “Karen.” This is the time to once again be a community, to be a decent human being, to make the right choice. We have done it before, and I still hold out hope that we can do it again.
