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Please Be Respectful, Wear A Facemask During Pandemic

By Denny Bonavita

People who defiantly choose to not wear facemasks during this COVID pandemic reignite my rant.

I love to rant.

My rant is about my rights vs. your rights.

My rant most recently bloomed when we went through the debate that prompted the repeal or relaxation of then-active laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets.

The issue is cogently encapsulated in the cliche, “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.

Or perhaps the cliche is, “The right to swing my arms in any direction ends where your nose begins.” Or it could be, “My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins.”

Who first said it? Oliver Wendell Holmes, perhaps. John Stuart Mill. Abraham Lincoln. Or, most likely, Zechariah Chaffee Jr.”

Who? Chaffee who? Whozis?

Chaffee, 1885-1957, was an “American judicial philosopher and civil rights advocate … possibly the most important First Amendment scholar of the first half of the 20th century,” says Wikipedia.

Never heard of him? Me neither. That’s because we are not judicial philosophers. We just act as though we are.

If we were, there would be no need to resurrect my rant. Most Americans would wear face masks during this COVID pandemic, whether the law requires it or not, in circumstances where a shout, a cough, a sneeze or (disgusting as it is) a loud burp could risk infecting others with the virus that kills Americans by the hundreds of thousands this year.

But we can be stupid. Or forgetful. Or lazy.

That’s OK. Even geniuses are stupid on occasion. Our President, by his own admission “a very stable genius,” has said something stupid since taking office. I do not recall what he said that was stupid, not because I cannot find the saying, but because I no longer pay attention to what the man says. I do pay attention to what he does, but that is another story.

President Trump does not wear facial masks in settings where judicial philosophers such as Zechariah Chaffee Jr. would wear masks.

That is his right, as my rant acknowledges.

Here, for those who have forgotten its substance, is my rant:

“Helmetless motorcycle riders and maskless Americans in close quarters in public in 2020 should all be required to carry notarized statements, along with their driver’s licenses, to the effect that they choose to invoke their right to go without helmets or masks.

“Passers-by who encounter these folks after they have sustained a head injury from a motorcycle mishap or have contracted COVID from an inhalation are instructed to respectfully and gently drag said folks to the side of the road, doing what they can to ease the moaning and groaning, and leave them there to become food for nature’s creatures.”

To me, it’s that simple. If you choose to not wear a face mask in public during these times, then don’t expect me to approve the use of my tax money or my health insurance premiums to save your self-centered buttocks if your exercising of that right renders you helpless.

In real life, I doubt that I could be that iron-willed. If I happened upon such a motorcycle crash victim, I almost surely would call 911. I can condone an exception to my rant to the extent of allowing the use of painkillers or anesthesia or, in the case of mask -rejecting COVID victims, assisted suicide materials. If the 911 responders choose to be more altruistic, that would be their choice, not mine.

Every rant has its exceptions. Some people have health problems that preclude them from wearing masks. Those folks should do everything humanly possible to stay at least six feet away from every other human being who is not a member of their household.

That exception would condone entering a hospital emergency room. It would not condone grocery shopping, walking in public parks, etc.

I understand that every right, even the right to life itself, has its exceptions. e.g., “Sergeant, what do you mean, you will shoot me yourself if I do not get up and charge that machine gun nest?”

But I also understand that choices have consequences.

There are gray areas to my rant. What about the dolt who accidentally shoots himself while drawing a handgun that is being carried without a permit? Is that dolt entitled to insurance-paid or taxpayer-paid care?

Hey, that is why we have Supreme Courts, in Harrisburg and in Washington. Me, I’m just a simple geezer, a curmudgeon.

I expect that millions of readers will object to my rant, while both of my faithful readers will endorse it.

So be it.

I enjoy a good rant even more than a loud burp.

¯ ¯ ¯

Denny Bonavita is a former editor at newspapers in DuBois and Warren. He lives near Brookville. Email: denny2319@windstream.net.

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