True freedom comes with responsibility

“Look before you leap.”

“Think before you speak.”

Two old “saws” that remind us of the need to consider what we do and say before acting out of spite, ignorance, or both.

And, yes, as Thomas Paine opined in 1776,

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”

And now faced with the still-dire threats from the COVID-19 pandemic and the social and political unrest that is also surging through our country, we must contemplate our own character and the character of an America struggling to right itself and regain its footing in the world.

We have already seen how impatience and foolhardy behavior have needlessly cost us thousands more lives and our once highly held humanity.

We have been witness to how empty the oft-heard tag line, “We Are All in This Together” really is when so many of us continue be left behind, marginalized, or totally ignored.

We have watched with dismay how front-line health care workers and dedicated scientists have been hailed as heroes on the one hand but debased on the other when they urge us to comport ourselves with caution and common sense.

It is they who deserve our deepest regard and thanks for being truth-tellers of the first order and giving us a true picture of where we are with a highly contagious and deadly disease and for also enlightening us about what the immediate future bodes.

On a personal note, I must also commend the hardworking journalists who strive under difficult circumstances to bring us important information about how our local governments, agencies, public service workers, schools, nonprofits, businesses, and neighborhoods, are faring under the weight of a crushing public health crisis that knows no bounds and respects no person or place.

Independence Day 2020 draws nigh and in our nation’s ongoing struggle to contain and mitigate the coronavirus, many individuals will decry what they see as draconian and authoritarian measures taken in an attempt to prevent community spread.

There will be the usual debates about individual freedoms and anything that appears to curb what some view as their personal liberties will be shouted down and dismissed.

The fact about freedom is that it is not entirely free.

It comes with responsibility.

It requires much of all of us to make it work for everyone who seeks to live without oppression.