Rights AND responsibilities

You all remember the Black Plague, right? Oh, of course not. We weren’t around then. We weren’t around for the so-called Spanish Flu in 1918, either. We do know that lots of people died, especially in areas where they showed up in crowds for public events. If you’re reading this, then you were one of the lucky ones that survived COVID. Many didn’t. Many lived but have long-lasting effects. We don’t know what might be coming at us in the future. We have public health departments and a Center for Disease Control whose job it is to address health issues that affect the public. They may ask us to wear masks in public to not only protect ourselves from others, but to protect others from us. We don’t always know if there is a virus inside of us that could kill someone else, especially when there is a lot of it going around. So, where do our rights balance with our responsibilities? Not always easy to answer. Is stopping at red lights optional? Or do we have red lights to protect public safety? Is drunk driving a matter of personal liberty? There are things we do to keep the community safe, and we ask members of the community to do to keep us and our families safe. When it comes to public safety, it is always a struggle to find the right balance between personal liberty and community responsibility. Some handled it more gracefully than others. Choose grace.