Probably the same as everyone else always had during a bad flu season.
No. It's neither.
No one has ever in modern medical history been held individually accountable for the spread of the flu, the cold, or any other common sickness. It is fearmongering to say that one should be held accountable for something that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has control over, when at best the spread of which can only be slowed.
SO STOP IT. If you want to be afraid, peeing your pants under while hiding under the bed, cowering in fear, you have every right to do so. What you DO NOT have the right to do is force everyone else to cower with you, or to infringe upon my rights as a human being, including to deface me, control me, or detain me, for simply going about my life like a normal, sane person.
There is risk in just living. Any number of things can happen in life, such as inadvertently catching an illness from your neighbor. But when have you ever held your neighbor responsible for catching that illness? The answer is NEVER. You have never held anyone responsible for your catching of an illness. It's simply a fact of life that people get sick with absolutely NO ONE to blame for it.
If you perish from this disease, there is no one to hold accountable. This is how it’s always been, and it’s how it should always be.
We are Paul Revere
My neighbor has the right to choose to be afraid.
If he is afraid that I unknowingly carry an illness, he has the right to be afraid of me. He has the right to stay away from me. But he does not have the right to control me, detain me, or deface me.
If he comes near me and I am ill, he may catch my illness. If he fears my illness he can stay away.
I will come to him if he needs me, even if he’s sick.
When we are well, I’ll eat with him in a restaurant, sit next to him in a theatre or wait in line with him at the grocery store. I’ll never force him to do anything against his will and I expect the same respect from him.
I accept the inherent risk of death in life. If I should inadvertently catch an illness from him, I will not hold him responsible. Even if I perish. This is how it’s always been, and it’s how it should always be.
If I am knowingly ill, I pledge to respect my neighbors and contain my illness as best I can while still providing for myself and my family. I cannot guarantee that I will not spread a pathogen, but I will be considerate.
I promise to never rob, murder, envy, vandalize or bear false witness against my neighbor. |
So Chair:
You have permission to go back to normal. No more masks, no more distance. Never grumble, never fear, for we are Paul Revere.
The time has come to disobey.
wearepaulrevere.net
