Life as Usual

Life as Usual The advice I keep getting is to ignore what is happening around the world and in this troubled country and just focus on your family and your job. Such advice sounds reasonable, and, if followed, might well lead to reduced stress and less anguish. However, I find such advice impossible to follow. I am living in a state where the governor wants to outlaw mask mandates and punish organizations that impose such mandates. I live in a state of denial. It is not a person’s individual right to endanger others, or so I was taught. Those who knowingly endanger others are acting irresponsibly and if others die as a result of that irresponsibility, then those persons are guilty of murder… in the highest degree and in the court of human kindness and understanding. The defense at the Nuremburg trials that “I was just following orders” did not exonerate anyone. Following orders that result in avoidable and unnecessary death is being an accomplice to murder. How can I ignore such stupidity in my own country? Elsewhere, we seem to be saving our own but putting our allies in Afghanistan at high risk. I used to be an Air Force officer, an intelligence officer who was not especially intelligent about keeping my views to myself, but I think we have obligations to those who have helped us in the past. Is that not what friends and allies do? Pointing fingers at others is no excuse for poor performance. But … why were we there and what were we fighting for? A few of us thought we should have left long ago or should never have gone … but memories and images of 9-11 are hard to ignore. Meanwhile, acts of random violence seem to be increasing. But the acts are not so random. They are aimed at those least able to defend themselves. Minorities continue to be oppressed in this land of the free and home of the brave. Immigrants are no longer welcomed as tired, and poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free … they are accused without evidence of being criminals and carriers of COVID-19 … while the wealthy white class continues to denigrate the non-wealthy and non-white people who do the daily work and provide the daily bread for us all. Life cannot be as usual for me anymore. I see nonsense and stupidity all around. Mike Spector A disappointed citizen