Written by: Vickie Sullivan | June 01, 2021
How Freedom Showed Up During the Pandemic
In the U.S., we spent this past weekend honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. For me, I spent Memorial Day weekend reflecting about how freedom showed up during a global pandemic. (Warning: Harsh personal opinion ahead.)
We all had an opportunity to step up last year. We were asked to make small, inconvenient sacrifices to make our future better. And a lot of us didn’t do it. The result: Over 590,000 lives lost in the United States alone, and that number keeps increasing. It didn’t have to be this bad.
I was bothered the most by the reasons people gave for not following COVID safety procedures. Many believe having “freedom” and “rights” means they weren’t responsible to help slow the spread of the virus. They used what brave people died for (freedom) as an excuse to spread a virus that killed people. That’s not freedom. That’s a mutually destructive free-for-all.
What many people forgot in the heat of those moments is that rights and responsibility are interdependent. Without the latter, the former shows up as an “everybody for themselves” attitude that helps no one. There’s a difference between freedom and an unlimited free pass.
Our military members who died during service deserve better. The next time we need to come together, let’s work harder to use their sacrifice as a positive example.
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