Why are some people consciously choosing to not wear masks or practice social distancing? Yes, everyone’s been inconvenienced as “the man” made us stay home, but this medical safeguard has nothing to do with the shattering COVID-19 economic toll. If this is a so-called “war” we’re fighting vs. the coronavirus, and if you’re not doing you’re small part for our state and country in that war, does that make you a traitor or a snowflake? The novel coronavirus is not going away soon and is surely not a problem solved, yet.
Moving on… recent peaceful protests around the country have pointed out just how far we haven’t come as a nation where all people are supposedly created and treated equal. The cry for justice and change is as loud as it’s been in many years, which hopefully will be a cause for immediate action beyond the poignant words.
We’ve been here before, and not just on this one particular issue of racial inequality and mistreatment. Back to 1970, we saw apparent headway being made by Women’s Lib, Black Power, and Gay Liberation movements. Yes, a half century ago, some of the very problems we see today were being addressed. But as Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and LGBTQ movements show us in 2020, we certainly have a long way to go.
Minneapolis just banned neck restraints and chokeholds as methods of police restraint, but that’s merely a rules change. What needs to change universally is mindsets. As daddy once told me, learn right from wrong when you’re young, because it’s hard(er) to change when you get older. Civics and ethics courses should be mandated in schools, if we truly believe in the words of our nation’s founders (who themselves were quite naïve and hypocritical in some humanitarian areas).
Judge people by their actions and souls, not by their skin color, shape, social proclivities, religious choices, physical challenges, mental conditions, accents, or even where they went to school. Civics should be taught alongside the ABCs, and taught early and often. Alter or adjust evolving mindsets before wayward or antiquated notions seep in and you’ll see change. Sunday schools should also play a big role in this moral mandate. Enough tribalism; enough us and them. While we all may be different, we’re all in this together. It’s 2020, not 1863, not 1607. Time to wake up, everybody.
Think about it…