Opinion

In response to Gloria Chad­wick’s opinion piece that ran (“Rude Awakening awaits us all, “May 15), it left me scratching my head trying to figure out what her objective was.

If it was to educate about the importance and the perils of health care workers, people already know they are on the front lines (are as first responders, retail workers, and delivery drivers/ warehouse workers) — and most people truly appreciate the great work they do.

If it was to attempt to change people’s behav­ior, her missive fell quite short. Ranting and raging at people will likely have the opposite effect, making those with opposing beliefs far more likely to dig their heels in deeper after being subjected to name calling and belittling.

The whole mask vs. no-mask, stay home vs. don’t stay home issue has turned into this cen­tury’s ‘Hatfields and McCoys’ battle, with each side feeling entrenched in their respective posi­tions. (It is telling that this issue has become symbolic of the rampant polarization of our nation, and unsurprisingly seems to fall along ideological and political lines.)

What I see from the macro level, however, comes down to how we each choose to view these multiple crises (because there are actual­ly four of them: 1) Pandemic; 2) Economic; 3) Constitutional; & 4) Social Engineering [attempt­ing to change our behaviors via guidelines and mandates.])

Every individual is reacting according to 1) which crisis is affecting them the greatest; 2) their own respective histories and archive of personal experiences; and 3) their individual po­litical, religious, and philosophical worldviews.

The pro-mask/pro-stay home camp’s frequent method of belittling, social shaming, and name-calling may make them feel better, but will likely do very little to actually change anyone else’s behavior.

For now, I hope we can all take a step back and instead pause a moment to ‘reflect and respect.’ We are all weathering the same storm, but rid­ing it out in vastly different boats—which re­sults in each of us seeing things through our own unique life lenses and acting accordingly.

Lastly, I would encourage all of us to take a step back from our respective moral certitudes and make an effort to find common ground, as we communally weather this unprecedented Covidemic storm.

Mary Davis

Alpine

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