Thanks To First Responders — To Civil Rights
By: Chris Dungan
Tags: Covid Mask, Censorship, Identity, Fake News, Civil Rights

Rated MA for speaking frankly

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

It is not meant as a value judgment comparing the abstract with the action-oriented. But with all respect, the latter has had a lot more recognition from a cross-section of society, and I don’t feel duty-bound to repeat others to show my appreciation. Rather, I pride myself on calling attention to areas that have received less.

On the other hand, you might see it as more inclusive if your contributions to this time aren’t as celebrated as those of medical personnel, truckers, or those who keep supplies stocked. Or anyone else whose paraphernalia you see on front yard signs.

What are some other efforts you’ve seen yourself or others make?

Social life or education for your own or neighbors’ children?

Shopping or care for those fearful of the virus?

Reaching out for new sources of income in a changing economy?

Adapting your church or favorite charity to new guidelines?

Or, just maybe:

Revering Paul (pun intended) or driving others crazy questioning information sources?

I wear a mask around others except when I dare to be reckless, like in my own home or outdoors when keeping my distance. I do so out of respect, not belief, just as one might not engage in a full range of gestures in a religious service for a different faith. Whatever sympathy we might muster for those who fear unencumbered life, we can’t trade in our own fears on a dime, even a silver one.

Yes, we’re all in this together, like passengers on an airplane. But like flight passengers to the same metropolitan area, our activities and hosts might be very different.

If we see someone making different masking decisions at a given time and place, we may or may not have judgments about it or wonder if others do.

And that’s another situation we can contribute to:

By the choice we make

Adjusting our attitude to it

Choosing what to say — or not, or to whom

By choosing what, if any, statement our mask makes (yes, that includes pro-Biden ones — or theoretically, pro-Trump ones, but living in California I only know of them from the Internet)

I’m sure that sounds a little obsessive to most of you. But when I asked a New York City resident during the spring what she observed back East, one of her comments was not only that most people wore masks outdoors, but that those who didn’t were “scary or frustrating.”

While I can’t speak for the whole open-air contingent, I know what’s in my mind and heart and those of many others who feel compelled to keep breathing as natural as possible. (The many reports of mask effectiveness are beyond the scope of this article. Perhaps someone more experienced with information tolerances can share a safe way for me to refer to them later without being censored for misinformation.) Maybe others would feel a little better seeing me without a mask outdoors if they noticed how unwarm I dress as the temperature drops. And I adhere to such laws as I understand them, as with clothing.

It would be nice if the censors could explain to me how they determined what contrary opinions constituted misinfomation, but we may be too many generations removed from the (regrettably unintegrated) Founders for truly free speech to resonate with those whose greatest passion is vigilance about data as they see it.

But one contribution I can make is to assure avid mask-wearers that the vast majority — of those who don’t demonstrate solidarity with those whose primary value is hygenic precaution — are simply in the age-old identity trap, like gangs who wouldn’t be caught dead embracing their parents’ values.

I emphasize it’s not that they don’t care about the health of others. But just as the young think they’ll live forever, there’s a limit to the empathy we can feel for those suffering from ailments we haven’t experienced. And I’d suggest that those who have taken modern conveniences for granted are similarly limited when faced with the possibility of unthinkable changes.

Another contribution I can make as a liberty hawk is to make sure I’m not overvaluing “patriotic values” pounded into me out of fear. I’m no stranger to reconciliation, so when hearing stronger pro-Constitutional opinions from those I respect, it’s easy to wonder if I’m being too casual. I’m not sure whether or when I’d want to write about this publicly, but having become more used to writing, essays about such values might be the answer.

And maybe I need to step out from behind my screen when it comes to those I know. The New Yorker I mentioned above: her former boyfriend is from — of all places — Wyoming, but I haven’t asked either of them anything further about their thoughts.

I hope I’ve shown enough community spirit to throw some red meat in the other direction, especially if they’ve sat through all this. After all, I did warn you with MA.

Notwithstanding my sympathy for those more fearful, I don’t want to be like them. Especially those who insist we subject ourselves to standards appropriate to the most vulnerable among us in a one-size-fits-all tyranny or that popularity or viewership determines truth.

Kundalini yoga instructor Terri Harrah likes to interject an observation towards the end of class. She notes that in this information age, the problem is not to gather more, but to know how to select. And that can be a contribution that you can make. Not only is there too much to sift through without joining forces, but we have to join our experiences to know how to evaluate the pieces for different purposes.

Whether you resonate with quaint notions of community or with the utility of blockchain, here good people can come together. And I look forward to being part of that — even I tire of everything else and decide to move to Wyoming myself.