With freedom comes responsibility

For those who believe getting vaccinated and wearing a mask during a global pandemic (the greatest health emergency in a century) threatens their personal liberty and undermines the core of America’s democracy; who are ambivalent to the dangers to young children who haven’t been vaccinated; who don’t care about the exhaustion of health care workers in overwhelmed hospitals across our country; who only receive information from social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or conservative TV and talk radio, this missive is probably pointless.

But some of us feel compelled to keep trying. In his teachings, Jesus simplified things by using parables and analogies. Unfortunately, there are no analogies that truly convey the seriousness and irresponsibility of refusing to follow the instruction of scientists and doctors during this ever-worsening crisis that is unnecessarily claiming thousands of lives in our country.

You’re on night patrol on a battlefield and a person in your platoon wants to light a cigarette. That’s certainly a no-brainer. Or, you’re about to launch an attack on a terrorist safe house, but the ranking officer refuses, for some reason, to let soldiers wear body armor. The enemy launches a poisonous gas attack on your position and the commanding officer refuses to let his troops wear gas masks because “he doesn’t like them.” In essence, not preparing or equipping people in harm’s way with the means to keep them safe is not only tragically wrong, it is criminal.

Some people like to drive drunk and go 100 miles per hour on the highway. So, should we rescind those laws to ensure their freedom?

If there were a technological breakthrough that would allow for the reversal of all the past vaccinations anti-COVID vaxxers have received during their lives, such as smallpox, diphtheria, polio, measles, pneumonia, shingles, would these people consent to the procedure? If they’re so impervious to the dreaded coronavirus mutations, by the reasoning, “I’ve already had COVID-19 and I have more antibodies that those who are vaccinated” (this, by the way, is untrue), why aren’t they lining up as volunteers to help overtaxed hospital workers?

Thanks to the previously discovered SARS virus, work on the coronavirus vaccine has been going on for more than a decade, so it’s not as if the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA and Johnson & Johnson vaccines suddenly burst upon the scene. The technology has been in development. Pfizer has already received full FDA approval, and the efficacy of these vaccines has been proven.

Vaccinations for Alaska school children have been required for as long as I can remember. What is the difference between those and vaccinations for adults going to workplaces or other indoor settings?

The portion of Americans who remain anti-vaccine and anti-mask mistakenly believe that following the recommendations of medical authorities is a slippery slope that will ultimately end their freedom. The critical sacrifices people in the U.S. and across the world made during our great World Wars were temporary and did not undermine our democratic principles.

And then there are the disturbances aboard commercial airliners by people objecting to wearing masks. I’m glad that airlines are exercising their right to ban such passengers from flying.

Lastly, I was at a doctor’s office recently and shocked to see a large sign sitting by the receptionist’s window. It instructed patients to act in a civil manner, to not use profanity and to not carry firearms. So now we have to tell people to act in a civilized manner? We’ve certainly come a long way in human evolution, but apparently, in the wrong direction.

A lifetime Alaskan, Frank E. Baker is a freelance writer who lives in Eagle River.

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