Give Me Freedom Or Give Me COVID
Freedom carries a different definition depending on where you are from. In socialist nations, people feel “free” because they do not have to pay medical bills and formal education is affordable, covering these costs by paying high taxes. In America, however, millions of people are clutching onto the Constitution and Bill of Rights as if it’s the nation’s scripture. And anything which strays from our Bible should immediately be outlawed because it infringes upon our sense of freedom.
I was born to Swiss immigrant parents in Seattle, WA, in the late 1990s. My mom stayed at home raising my brother and I while my dad has been working for the entirety of my life. We are lower-middle class, democratic, a touch liberal, and we do not support the current presidency.
We are also living through a pandemic. My travel plans have been demolished, I’m attending virtual university, and I haven’t been able to see my friends in months. These are the ways in which COVID has directly affected my life. I don’t know anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID, and I don’t feel a strong emotional connection to the population which has contracted the virus. But I still wear my mask (over my mouth and nose) even though I feel fine, even though I show no symptoms, and even though it’s a little uncomfortable to have a piece of cloth on my face all day.
