I woke up Saturday morning with my heart racing because of yet another nightmare. I’ve been plagued by them lately as my subconscious struggles to deal with the fears I suppress during the day in an effort to be productive. This nightmare was based on a combination of two fears: white supremist terror and COVID-19.
In my nightmare, I was shopping in a local store wearing my mask and minding my own business when this older white man, looking like one of those stereotypical Trump supporters, stepped up to me without a mask, blew right into my face and said, “I hope you die.” I startled awake and could no longer set aside my fear that there really are a few people in this country who would do something like that.
The day before, a dear old friend from high school posted a June 25th article on Facebook from the New York Post about a county sheriff in Washington state who used a bull horn to tell residents, “Don’t be sheep” and to defy the governor’s order to wear masks in public. That sheriff, Robert Snaza, is a republican and a law enforcement officer who deserves to lose his job for encouraging people to break the law, endangering public health, and all while wearing his law enforcement uniform. He was in a church parking lot, surrounded by a crowd of those stereotypical white Trump supporter types and a second sheriff. He is precisely the kind of officer we need to take off the streets and I hope both officers are summarily fired. You have the freedom to speak, but it is not the freedom from consequences of that speech, especially when you are being paid with public funds to protect and serve.
While I believe these officers violated the public trust and their duties as law enforcement officers, I also think that people like them are going to help usher in disparities in survival rates between the educated and the uneducated. The sheep are the ones who listen to Donald Trump, the politician who refutes science and common decency clearly influenced these idiots in a uniform. Too many Trump followers willingly and stupidly expose themselves and their loved ones to a deadly virus to prove an irrelevant point in this situation: freedom. Freedom to jeopardize the health and well being of other human beings. Some have gone so far as to threaten public health officials and governors over their promotion of mask wearing to protect against this virus. How inconsiderate can people be? For people who say they value life, where is that value now? Sadly, COVID-19 will have its way with people like this and everyone unfortunate enough to encounter them. That’s why I’m having nightmares.
As a society, we have generally agreed that our collective public health should not be left to the whims of individuals. We’ve enacted speed limits, safety belts, traffic lights, alcohol limits for driving, driver’s licenses, age limits on cigarettes and alcohol consumption and many other laws to curb human behavior. Why? Because we recognize that some people are not wise enough nor considerate enough and as a result they risk the lives of others.
The requirement to wear a mask in public during a pandemic is no different. Clearly we cannot depend upon the wisdom and good will of our fellow Americans. So, I’m for making the wearing of masks in public places the law of the land and imposing stiff fines or community service on those who refuse. It’s an issue of public safety, not freedom, and it might help end my nightmares.