New Normal

I was driving last night and a commercial came on the radio between Minnesota and Wisconsin. It was for a radio station in Rochester, MN and the commercial started out by saying “we will never return to normal”. My heart skipped a beat. What in the actual hell is going on?

Who gets to decide this?

This was a commercial for wearing masks and social distancing. It was nothing more than propaganda and it was disgusting. The most disgusting part to me is that many people agree with this nonsense.

Here is how I feel about the whole thing. I only mask because I have to. I will be required to do so at work. I need to go out and get groceries. I am being forced to when I go about everyday life. I am very much against this because it is the beginning of the end for our basic freedoms.

There is much debate on the science behind masking, and I am not writing this about masking in particular, so I will not answer specific debates on the science behind it. It is clear like the Black Lives Matter Movement and Left vs. Right, that there are sides to be taken.

What I am choosing to write about today is those who are now using a health emergency to chip away at our basic freedoms. These are freedoms that are underlying in our society, and ones that have been fought for with the spilled blood of our grandparents and parents.

Here is the deal, I am willing to agree to listen to science on the matter, but it is now tied to political agendas and this no longer holds water for me. I will not have an overreaching government and those in power decide what I do with my personal freedoms. If the same group of people who tell me loudly that it is their body, their choice, then ok. My body my choice. If it is not selfish in the one instance, then it is not selfish in the other.

People sacrifice everything to come to this country because of oppressive governing. This is exactly what we are allowing. We are chipping away at our personal freedoms so that we are not to be shamed by our neighbors. I shake my head at the sadness of it all really.

There has been a slow creep for a while. The newest craziness is coming in the form of tracking our cell phones and if you do not believe me, go to google, settings, and look at the first thing that comes up. It is a COVID-19 Exposure Notification. This is something that you currently have to opt in to, but how long will it take for this to be something that becomes automatic. It is disturbing to me that this is a tracking that we are passively allowing to infiltrate our privacy.

I know that there is a whole host of people who will argue that I am selfish, not a good citizen and that I just need to “do my part”. Well I ask these very same people, when does it end? Does it end when we have a vaccine? Does it end when some political agenda is fulfilled?

I do not want to hear that this choice, or freedom of choice, hurts people. Lots of things hurt people. Many things hurt people. I will do my best to try and avoid hurting people. What you are asking my to do, little by little, is give up the freedom to avoid hurting people. Allow people to be good people. Tell them what you think works best, let them decide for themselves. It is really that simple in a free society.

I think that there is a sect of people that do not want normal to return. They like that they are able to control the population. There are people who thrive on looking like they are doing their part. This is a facade in my mind. It is like those who go to church on Sunday, yet are unkind people in their everyday lives. They love to lecture about how they are doing their part, but do not realize that they are shaming their fellow man and this is not coming from a place of kindness.

I think that what concerns me the most, and really makes me sad, is that we are allowing our children to hear this. This is anxiety inducing for those who should be filled with hope and wonder. We are exposing our young children and telling them that they need to do their part. It breaks my heart that they are hearing this propaganda. I feel that it is robbing them of an innocence they deserve. It feels wrong on so many levels and I am heartbroken for them.

I hope that we can find our way in all of this. I hope that I am not the only person that feels this way. I cannot be. I trust my instincts as a mother, and it all feels just wrong and uncomfortable. I am wrestling with the morality and lack of common sense involved in the decisions being made. Human nature is to want the best, but it is also easily influenced by EVIL.

EVIL seems to be at work each time we turn a corner in this madness. People are short and unkind to one another. They are quick to judge and blame. They are mad more than they are happy. They have lost hope and given in to those making decisions for them.

I pray that we find our way against EVIL.

Why, may I ask is wanting normal so bad?