The Selfish Lockdown

 What's the hardest part of a lockdown? Isolation? Lack of exercise? Boredom? All of the above and more?

I think it's the constant reminders that "we're all in this together," because, plainly, we are not. There are far too many people who have taken the stance that their own comfort and amusement outweighs all the reasons for following the rules. This is not to say that those people constitute a majority of the populace, but they are of sufficient number that collectively they have turned what doctors and scientists initially predicted to be, perhaps, a six-month annoyance into what now looms to be an 18-month marathon.

Think what it might have been like if all the people who felt the need to gather in large groups had not done so; if all those who traveled or partied over the winter holidays had stayed home; if those who thought worshipping together in a closed building was holier than protecting all of us by not doing that had followed the overwhelming commandment of all religions--"love your neighbor as yourself".

We might have been open widely now, instead of in May. We might be cautiously hugging our extended families. We might all be going to our houses of worship. Our kids might be in classrooms.

The problem? For too many Americans, "independence" translates as "selfishness."