I must say I’m still on the fence about my upcoming trip to Portugal. Now that booster shots are being recommended, I’m debating if I’d be smarter to wait until spring to make the trip (I don’t think Portugal is going anywhere). I would be due for a booster shot in December and, presumably, the world might look a little more ‘COVID-friendly’ by next spring. My biggest concern is getting stuck somewhere or having to quarantine overseas due to either a positive COVID test or a change in rules while I’m on the road. I guess if I was 30 years old as opposed to 70 (when I take the trip) I wouldn’t be quite so concerned. I’ll keep flipping my coin and see what happens. I purposely made all of my arrangements to be refundable or cancellable.
As an example of how fast things can change with respect to COVID, New Zealand, which has been living a fairly normal life for the last few months, announced a strict lockdown for the entire country due to an outbreak that started just last week. Last week, New Zealand announced its first community COVID-19 cases since February. In the past week, that has grown to 210 total cases with 62 of those being reported on Wednesday – and that is the highest daily total since last year. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, immediately issued a lockdown order to try to get this under control. One week – that’s how fast the landscape can change.1
As cases continue to go up here in Montana and elsewhere across the nation, the debate over masks continues unabated. On the local news this morning, they announced that the Bozeman school district will mandate masks initially. Of course, there are protests and parents loudly decrying this decision. In one interview, the father said that he simply wanted the choice as to whether or not his child wore a mask. He claimed he had the constitutional right to make that choice. And that is where this whole issue is getting twisted around into some type of false choice.
The simple fact is, there are many areas of our lives where we don’t get a choice. And, up until this whole politicized mask issue, those situations were rarely questioned. Back when I used to run triathlons (and it is certainly true today) all participants had to wear swim caps during the swim and wear bicycle helmets while on the bike. If you chose not to comply with those rules, the course marshals would pull you from the race and you would be disqualified. If you wanted to participate in the event, you relinquished your choice as to whether or not to wear a bicycle helmet – period.
When you buy a ticket to a ski resort, you agree, as part of that ticket to abide by certain rules governing how and where you can ski. If you start skiing recklessly, you can be forced off of the mountain and your ability to ski at that resort suspended. You do not have a choice to ski any way you choose. If you choose to go skiing, you relinquish your right to ski in a manner that jeopardizes the safety of other people.
Schools often have dress codes. If you choose to send your child to those schools, you relinquish your right to have your child dress any way they choose. And while there are occasional conflicts involving dress codes, they are few and far between compared to this ongoing nonsense about masks.
The simple fact is, there are many, many areas of our lives where our individual rights are not absolute – particularly when it comes to ensuring the safety of other people. As has been said before, “Your right to swing your arms ends at the start of my nose.” Unfortunately, the people who are so virulently anti-mask, seem to thing they have the absolute right to swing their arms as wildly as they like, regardless of who they harm in the process. That is not a ‘constitutional right’, it is simply a very selfish, ‘screw everyone else’ attitude.