Back in late spring the country got way too complacent about COVID. Vaccines were out, cases were down to their lowest levels, time to party! Delta put an end to that right quick this summer.
That complacency was deadly. Nothing was being done to to push those not getting the vaccine to do so, the whole thing was being framed as a "personal choice." It was a ridiculous understanding, akin to saying it's my personal choice to drink six beers at the bar then get behind the wheel because I know my body and know how to hold my liquor.
Now the mandates (in some parts of the country) are coming at last. My school already let me know earlier this summer that we were required to get vaccinated. Now with the Pfizer vaccine getting FDA approval New York City and New Jersey are mandating vaccines for teachers and school staff. Mandates are also coming at various other establishments and in the military.
I witnessed this first hand last week when I took a day to bum around Manhattan and ended my perambulations at Film Forum so I could see The Birds on the big screen. I had to show proof of vaccination, the first time this year anyone had ever asked to see my vaccination card. In that moment, I realized that vaccination mandates are about increasing freedom. I could go to the movies for the first time in a year and a half -one of my favorite things to do- with greatly reduced fear of contracting the virus. (I have two kids under 12 so I am more cautious than most vaccinated people.) I felt more free than I had at any time since March 11, 2020.
You wouldn't know that by our public discourse, which is full of anti-vaxxers claiming they are freedom fighters. They are expressing a typically impoverished understanding of freedom common in America: the freedom not to do anything you don't like. This negative freedom is responsible for greatly restricting the freedom of others. Those who want unlimited access to guns make it so teachers like me must live with the possibility of school shootings. The businessman who doesn't want regulation doesn't care that the rest of us choke on his pollution. The anti-vaxxers do not think of all the people getting infected and dying as a result of their idea of "freedom."
Vaccine mandates are a good way to illustrate positive freedom to the country. They will allow children the freedom to be able to go to school and not have their education interrupted. They will give restaurant workers the freedom to work without catching a potentially deadly disease. The more people get vaxxed, the more we will be able to go back doing all kinds of things that give us joy, from traveling to movies to worship to concerts to eating out. Bar, restaurant, hotel, and club owners will reap the benefits, too.
I hope with this example of positive freedom that Americans might see its necessity in other areas. Universal health care, for example, would give people the freedom to switch jobs and go into business for themselves without worrying about losing access to medicine. Subsidized day care would give the parents the freedom to take on a wider range of jobs. Subsidized higher education would give young people the freedom to advance themselves without being shackled by debt, thus allowing them the freedom to buy homes and start families if they so choose.
The pandemic has pushed Americans to reevaluate their lives. In many cases, they decided that they were over-valuing work in favor of other things that give life meaning. If that spirit can be combined with an appreciation of positive freedom, I might actually feel optimistic for once.
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