Freedom isn’t free. Such cliches end up in song lyrics — multiple songs have that as the title, in fact — so people don’t give the concept much serious thought, as a result.
But the expression also happens to be a true statement — and it applies to the current battle that the coronavirus pandemic represents. Today is Independence Day, which is precisely the occasion for giving even this cliche some thought.
The notion of freedom has been put through the wringer over the past year and several months, when a pandemic compelled far more restrictions on personal behavior than Americans usually tolerate. But there are times when such curbs have been imposed, and accepted — even embraced.
Generally those have been times of war, when service to country meant leaving it behind to enlist in its defense. Those not conscripted often were expected to make their own sacrifice in some measure. Families mourning separation, sometimes a final, terrible loss. Even in small ways, history is filled with stories of curtailing consumption of goods in short supply, volunteerism and compliance with rational security measures.
People still serve their communities, volunteer for nonprofits, help with charity work. But that particular brand of selflessness — national service — is a less familiar concept in recent decades. To most citizens, it’s equated with military enlistment, not a duty bound on everyone.
The COVID-19 battle, however, has engaged every American, every nation on Earth. Most people across the country fell in line with the initial lockdowns, while so many unknowns were swirling.
As science uncovered more about the threat and the risks became clearer, however, people wearied of the restrictions adopted to protect them from exposure. The acceleration of vaccination on a national scale began to rein in the infection spread.
Even before it did but especially afterwards, many people wanted to disarm, to pull off the masks, to insist that businesses and schools open wide. The objection to continuing restrictions usually raised was that they curtailed one’s “freedom.”
Residents of Hawaii have been relatively compliant with the rules put in place by Gov. David Ige’s series of emergency proclamations, with the required masking and physical distancing.
But in the islands, where the price of compliance was widespread economic damage and temporary or permanent job loss, there has been protest, too.
Lindsay and Marcy Wilhelm, of Waipahu, submitted a letter published Dec. 22 in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. They described being “floored by the selfishness on display at the anti-mask, anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine march held at the state Capitol on Dec. 19.”
“While we recognize the real financial and emotional pain of quarantine, we can’t help but contrast the ‘don’t tread on me’ crowd with the example of previous generations,” they wrote, pointing to the home-front efforts made during the world wars.
“Today, the front is closer to home, and the troops are our health care workers, who risk their lives working 12-hour shifts in increasingly crowded ICUs. But you can’t bear to wear a mask or forgo youth soccer for a few more months? Really?”
Really.
To be clear, there are rational concerns about taking a vaccine, especially for those with health conditions that would be worsened. There are fears that the COVID-19 shots have not yet won full government approval, although such clearance is expected, the science has been exceedingly thorough and millions have been immunized safely. There are religious objectors who routinely decline all vaccines, too.
But many of the protests are, frankly, on shakier ground. “My body, my choice!” some will say. The fact that in some circumstances their choice threatens the health and safety of others, as well as their own, rarely comes up in that proclamation.
The pushback on masking is especially vexing. This is a highly infectious respiratory illness. Covering up in crowded and indoor spaces is what grants the freedom to conduct business; it is simply not asking too much that we make this temporary concession, as necessary.
This is not exactly a war; it can be helpful, though, to think of it in those terms. The enemy is microscopic but gains in strength the longer it’s allowed to persist in the environment. Over time, it has acquired new “weapons” through mutations, and progressively more threatening variants emerge.
With the delta variant, the aversion to immunization borders on the irrational. Virtually all the seriously ill, now including younger people, are the unvaccinated. Virtually all of the deaths are now entirely preventable.
On this holiday weekend, Americans will surely celebrate in the usual, joyful ways. But they also are called to reflect on freedom, on the fact that it does require self-sacrifice, on how their own choices affect their community, too.
Will we finally be free of this enemy we’ve battled for a year-and-a-half? Thanks to the intervention of science, we will be. How soon that happens, though, is entirely up to us.
