Recently I’ve seen folks who are telling others that they have a healthy distrust for authority. It’s the new Facebook frame. The frame goes on to say that they’re vaccinated but they have this distrust of authority. Really? Do these folks really believe that? Many of them are the same folks who have “Blue Lives Matter” banners on their homes. Do they not know that police are authority figures?
I have a healthy respect for authority. We have a stop sign at the end of our street. It’s there for a reason. Our street intersects another and it’s a good idea to stop and look both ways before turning in either direction. We have only one stop light in the village but it’s at an important intersection. I can’t imagine not having a traffic control device there. We’re much safer because of it. The speed limit in the village 30 miles per hour. Many times I drive slower than that because the streets are lined with homes where children live and the kids are darting into the street. Caring for each other is central to society. Do these folks with the healthy distrust of authority not care about the rest of us. Are they so self absorbed that they think only of themselves?
I’ve been reading how many of these folks don’t like mandates and they mistrust the government. I’m grateful we have civil authorities and that we have city, state and federal governments which help protect us from ourselves and care for the common good. I can’t imagine life without running water that comes flowing into our home. We don’t have to dig a well. We have a flush toilet too. I’m glad we don’t have an outhouse and that we have municipal sewer system. Glad that I live on a street that maintained by property taxes that we pay.
I’m glad we have a government who provided us with a vaccine that negates the effects of this pandemic. I’m glad I don’t have to die on a ventilator. I’m glad I got flu vaccine and one for shingles too. I had to pay for the flu vaccine and the shingles shot. The Moderna vaccine was paid for by our federal taxes. The common welfare is important to me so I’ll be obeying the stop signs and traffic devices in my travels and I hope you do too.
Don, I support everything you have expressed here. We cannot get through life without allies. Some we know and are lifelong friends. Some are our worldwide neighbors who understand and share in the common good for the benefit of humanity and the planet. We sure do need a lot more of those. Is it possiblethat the seeming preponderance of the oppositionaldefiance disordered adults are in the minority butsimply louder and more obnoxious than those of uswho understand the need for the common good? I sure hope so. Stay well my friend.
| “Sometimes we make our lives harder by how we inhabit them.” – B. H. |