I admit that I’m confused. I’m confused because I read all of these stories about school board meetings filled with screaming and yelling and sometimes physical threats all because of this whole mask issue. I just don’t understand it. Our lives are filled with ‘requirements’ every single day of our lives and most are just accepted with no controversy and we go about our lives. Most of these requirements are designed to protect ourselves and those around us.
If a parent allows their child to play football, the children are required to wear pads and a football helmet. It’s not optional. I can’t imagine any parent in their right mind arguing that they have a constitutional right to object to their child wearing a football helmet and pads. Why are helmets and pads required? They are required to help ensure the safety of everyone on the football field, particularly for the child wearing them. The same is true for kids playing hockey. Pads are required to help ensure the safety of the participants. There is really no controversy around these requirements. The fact is, about a dozen kids die from football related issues annually. Contrast that with the hundreds of pediatric deaths attributed to COVID.
The parents who drive their kids to school and the school bus drivers they entrust their kids are required to drive on the right side of the road (at least in this country). Why? Because it ensures the safety of everyone. No one has a constitutional right to drive on whichever side of the road they feel like a any given moment. Requiring everyone to drive on the right side of the road is a way to ensure the safety of the general public as we all move around.
We are required to be sober when we operate motor vehicles. Why? To ensure the safety and well being of the general public. Almost all would agree that drunk drivers impose a risk on society that we don’t want. The laws against drunk driving are make in the interest of public safety. I don’t recall any instant when someone was claiming they have a constitutional right to drive drunk.
Many states have passed comprehensive anti-smoking laws that prohibit smoking in most indoor areas. Why? The data clearly show that second hand smoke is detrimental to everyone, whether or not they smoke or not. The anti-smoking laws are made in the interest of public health. There have been a few legal challenges to these laws but in almost all cases, the courts have ruled that public health concerns override an individual’s constitutional right to smoke wherever they choose.
Here in Montana, Governor Gianforte has stated that parents should have the final decision on whether or not their children should wear masks. Perhaps while we’re at it, we should allow parents to have the final decision on homework. Perhaps before a teacher gives students their final grades for the semester, we should give parents the final say on what grade their students get. Since so many of these parents want the final say in their child’s academic environment, we should just go back to homeschooling and remote learning. Oh yeah, we tried that.
Once again, I’m confused. All of these very vocal anti-mask parents are also very vocal about wanting their kids to go back to school and are tired of remote learning. Pediatric cases of COVID are skyrocketing across the country as kids return to school and yet these same parents who want their kids back in school are unwilling to do anything to ensure the schools can operate safely for all students and teachers. As more and more kids get infected with this Delta virus, you can expect more and more teachers to also get infected. No doubt there will be a lot of teachers who decide the risk is just not worth it, just like what is going on in the healthcare profession with nurses, and leave for another career. How is any of this helping kids return to school?
Our lives are filled with requirements which are designed to make our society safer for everyone and under which we all operate everyday without much controversy. And yet, this whole mask issue has taken on a whole different dimension. The only explanation is that the controversy is being stoked by a torrent of misinformation by individuals who have no credible scientific or medical credentials, and politicians whose sole goal is to score political points regardless of the number of lives they put at risk.
It is probably only a matter of time before some parent who was adamantly against mask mandates for their children in school, sues a school district after their child contracts and dies from COVID, for failing to provide a safe learning environment for the children. Think it won’t happen – of course it will. [This is along the same vein as those who ask for the COVID vaccine after they are admitted to the ICU in the hospital.] The only real question is how many children’s lives will be unnecessarily sacrificed on the altar of ‘individual freedom’ because of this ridiculous debate?