Corona virus vs Liberty

What I don’t understand: 

I have a fairly good idea of what has happened and what we’re doing about it, but what I don’t understand is why we are acting like this is the end of the world?

When you look at the numbers, statistics and compare today's numbers with the past SARS, H1N1, Ebola, AIDS, Flu, The Plague, etc… we have always faced threats and we will face many more in the future but what I don’t understand is the reaction the world has taken? 

Most of the world have sacrificed their economies, closing huge sections of our world hoping to decrease the effects of this one particular threat. 

What I don’t understand is what happens next year if the same plague rears its ugly head?  Do we again shut down and hide, do we stop our lives hoping to save our lives?  And what about the other threats that we now ignore because we have grown used to them?  Drug deaths each year.  Abortions, deaths from heart disease, traffic accidents… I can go on and on, none of these seems to have the same effect on our daily life but with the coronavirus we are hunkered down in total fear of our neighbors and even of the air they breathe.

It’s been speculated that we will face 100,000 Deaths from this year’s Corona Virus with those infected as high as 45,000,000 but the point of living this life is overcoming the challenges that face us and not hiding away and hoping that threats pass us by.

Even if this threat is as grave as it has been presented and even if we are forced to face this challenge by changing our lives, I am not one who wants to risk my liberty in the process.

What I don’t understand is the ease by which so many are so willing to forsake and give up the freedoms we have been given in the face of the unknowns before us?  Why do we have those freedoms in the first place if they can be so easily forfeit and forsaken?

We may be on the verge of a yearly scourge so debilitating that we must change our lives.  I will change my life, but those changes are for me to make for myself.

When I was diagnosed with Cancer (polycythemia Vera) I had to change my life, it was not a choice.  I had to resign from my position with a local school district; I had to change how I eat and take medication every day if I wanted to prolong my life.  I had to make the choices to live, but I never had to negotiate my liberties.   I know it's not the same thing but there are similarities.  I could have faltered in fear and given up, letting death take me early without the fight to save what I have.

I fear that our liberties are slipping away with each passing day as we succumb to the fears of the unknown plague.  We are more content to listen to the dribbles of those in the media without considering how we can be pragmatic, helpful to others, safe and at the same time remaining free by making good choices based on logical decisions that keep us safe but allows the economies of the world to move forward.

Maybe we have to separate ourselves but the risk to us all, if the economy fails, will be far greater than the disaster of another great depression or even worse.  2 Trillion Dollars have been spent in a desperate attempt to soften the effects of the coronavirus but no one really knows how long it will take before it subsides or if it will continue.  Are we going to give 2 trillion next year?  Or will it be more?

If a business wants to stay open, let them take the risk and make the choices that fit their needs and the needs of their customers and employees.  Take their temperature, stay 6 ft apart, take out instead of sit in, but if we let fear drive our decisions, then we all suffer a greater threat than the one we currently have.

What we risk is a worldwide depression that could have devastating consequences far greater than the current problems.  Millions could die from starvation, disease and millions more will flock to socialistic like governments that promise the world but give only enough to barely survive.  Losing liberty and freedoms, losing freedom of speech and freedom to associate and congregate and the freedom to worship. 

I do not agree with the 2 Trillion give away.  There was no reason to close the backbone of the American Economy, the small businesses.  Good leadership should have and still could instruct us how to live safely and economically and how to move forward with confidence that we could be victorious over this current worldwide plague.

Be smart, act with kindness and never give up your liberties and freedoms.