Choosing Liberty

Feelin' a little overwhelmed with the world today? I can bet money that like myself, you have up days and down days here and there scattered in between the fond, forced slowness of the times. The ways of today are unprecedented in the modern world. We're at day-by-day, varying stages of "quarantine" and "mandatory social distancing" as a government-led response and action to combat the spread of COVID-19. Public schools and events are shut down, and financial stability is on the chopping block for many families across the monetary spectrum. By now, almost all 50 states have also issued "shelter at home" orders (ordered by the president) and are urging you to stay home at all times and only go to essential businesses - but you can't enter without a mask or gloves. There's an item and time limit while you shop, one way in and one way out, and you can only proceed to pay for your groceries once the clerk gives you permission to step forward. Maybe, your state has activated unit(s) of the National Guard to serve as overflow support for law enforcement and emergency response, or a loved one is a front line essential services worker and risks their health for the service of their community. Maybe you’ve been tested.

And a final maybe... maybe your state has enacted laws that make it illegal to gather in public spaces, or only certain types of medical appointments are considered essential-enough. It all sounds like part of the safety plan, right? Go here, don’t go there. This business is closed but that kind can stay open. There’s a plethora of "news" on the topic, it’s the highlight of all of our lives at present and it’s slathered all over social media platforms for us to share and re-tweet. But how do we know what’s true? How do we see through the ever-changing media coverage to find actual answers? It is becoming difficult to separate fact from fiction.

At this point, just to stay sane, I’m having to sift through news in the same way I look at toxic ingredients! There’s a toxic ingredients overload going on, and I'm struggling to read through the marketing just like I do with a bottle of shampoo. I'm feeling like it's time to "ditch and switch" to better, more uplifting news. This feels like an equation that has an easy solution, but for some reason, we can't seem to find the final answer.

I receive mixed, but equally emotional responses from those who I talk to about this. Most of us are either diligently doing everything we’re told in hopes to stay home, obey all guidelines and flatten the curve... and the other half are adamant that there’s more to the story than the government is telling us. Like the government is distracting us with a slight of hand, and our nation is falling for it. And I bet the majority of us are somewhere in between. In the grey area and the daily mixed emotions. In the doubt and disbelief that this is really even happening and that the social isolation deadline extended... again. Is there truly a “right” way to handle this? As our personal plans get cancelled or deemed “non-essential” - each on a larger scale than the next? No matter where you stand on the subject, and no matter your preferred social and political affiliation, I want to throw something out here: we are still FREE.

For now.

Please, my dear friends, let’s hold onto our freedom - our Liberty - and our choice. We have the freedom to ask questions, think freely and independently, to read up, and to think outside the box. To desire to see both sides of the argument. There is no room for shame here, and we shouldn’t be ridiculed for having the unpopular opinion on this topic. We can think for ourselves. And frankly, if you aren’t thinking for yourself, that’s exactly the goal of all of this, I'm convinced. An easily pliable, gullible mind that can be convinced and swayed to giving up your rights one step at a time for a false sense of security. We have that freedom, too: the freedom to see through twisted and manipulated marketing and misinformation.

We have the freedom to have the unpopular opinion, and keenly research each side of the equation.

We have the freedom to ask questions and be skeptical. PLEASE be skeptical.

We have the freedom to choose how we react and respond, and to defend our rights as a nation.

We eeeeven have the freedom to choose to be vaccinated against this, when the option is available. But again - it’s if we want to.

We have the freedom to practice our rights as a nation. Hear me out - I’m a nurse, and working around the most at-risk population every day. I fully understand and am aware of how viral respiratory disease are spread, how contagious they are and deadly they can be to the immunocompromised. And I agree that we can and should take the steps needed to eradicate this virus once and for all... or at least until next year when it mutates because GUESS WHAT - all viruses do that. This isn't some crazy super-I-am-legend type of flu that is the first one to be this contagious. It's why we need a new flu shot every year! So if we’re truly needing to self-quarantine, sorry but - this ain’t it. One trip out to the store, even wearing gloves and a mask, and you're exposed. It’s almost impossible to fully isolate yourself against a virus like this, and to isolate an entire country into doing it successfully. So if that's really the honest goal, why are liquor stores still open, but churches are closed? Why are large corps open, but local and small businesses are closed? Is there really no fully mandated plan in action for a situation like this? Why not? When we return to work, the virus will spike in cases, but our bodies will fight it and we will survive it. We can't deny that this step is absolutely mandatory to avoid an economic crash. In my opinion, something doesn't add up, and makes me want to unpeel the label on this and look up the ingredients as I do. One of these ingredients is making us sick.

A reminder that it’s always okay to ask questions.

True Freedom is built on questioning and examining the narrative, and choosing our own path in what we believe. Stay true to just that, the truth, and know that it may lay hidden behind the label.

So here's a few questions I have:

Why was our right to gather in public places the very first thing to go? Was it with the purest intention of slowing the spread of the virus by avoiding contact? I hope so. Or was it so we can't get together and discuss all of this, and ask these very questions? Is it so we can't have a group of people with mutual opinions on the topic, that happen to go against the toxic propaganda we are being led to believe?

Is it because herd-immunity is real and would eradicate this virus quicker than waiting for our government officials (and large IT tech bosses -ahem) to create yet another guideline for us to follow, based on a whim or who's stocks are up today?

No government power or elected official has the ability to forcibly remove your constitutional rights. They can make recommendations, and we can choose to follow them (and from an infectious disease standpoint, we should!) but that’s a choice we have and we can make by ourselves. How is this just or true if not all states have the same rules? How is it that each state is suddenly able to enact it's own set of rules that must be followed or you'll face arrest... when this is a global pandemic? It's time to ask these questions. Even written and enacted laws DO NOT require us to hand over our freedom for a sense of security based solely on false projections. Laws are not hastily and haphazardly created out of panic, as these newly-established state-wide "guidelines" are. We do not need to be forced. We can choose to give up some liberties temporarily for the greater good of humanity and use our common sense, and we should if we ever want this to slow down - but again, it’s a choice we’d make. The element of choice is what makes us human in the first place.

Isolating sick people is quarantine.

Isolating and locking down healthy people agaisnt their will is tyranny.

And let me just confirm that I place the highest value on human life, because that's an opposing response I've read when someone like me shares their opinion. Of course I value human life, as I cling to my sleeping daugher on my chest every night. But I also value the human quality of life. And that my friend, is a result of freedom.

It's time to wake up friends. We are being gaslighted out of fear like we've never seen before.

We have the freedom to speak our mind on the subject. We can go against the grain, share what’s on our hearts without fear of retaliation or ridicule. So here I am, practicing my rights. Choosing liberty, but being a responsible adult and using my instincts and knowledge of diseases to help slow the progression among my fellow peers. Making the choice to participate because I know I should, and because I want to. I'm choosing this, and you should too! But hey, it's a choice - have I said this enough today? And if you don't share my opinion, I still, so deeply and genuinely value YOU and the fact that you have a difference of opinion, that's your personal freedom at work. And I'm proud of you for choosing your liberty today and every day as we work through this together.

We live in the United States of America. The "United" states. Not a totalitarian, communist country where what the government says goes or you face being stripped of your rights. Do we see that is what is happening here... if we don't stand up for ourselves? We are a huge melting pot of diversity, multi-faceted beauty united with individualism and rich with freedoms. We are united in the fact that we have this very freedom, the practice of different beliefs and the ability to hold our own opinions. We have freedom to disagree with each other and still hold onto relationships. We don't have to be divided, we can share the mindset of protecting our liberty. Freedom that has been fought for and sacrificed for in order to protect, again and again. Freedom is what makes our country elite. We, as a Americans, have held our freedom high and defend it with honor at all costs. Freedom is a natural human right.

Will you choose it?