Ross: Not wearing a mask infringes on all of our choices

The virus we thought we’d outsmarted suddenly seems to have us surrounded, and it’s gotten so bad that even the President has changed his mind about wearing a mask.

“I mean I’d have no problem [with masks],” he said this week. “Actually I had a mask on, I sort of liked the way I looked. It was a black mask. And I thought it looked OK, I looked like the Lone Ranger.”

But demonstrators in Florida are still not convinced, chanting slogans like, “my body, my choice” at a recent protest.

For them it’s all about choice. But suppose we’re all grocery shopping and my choice is to not be infected by their choice.

I suppose I could carry extra masks and insist they wear them until I’m finished shopping. But they don’t sound like the type who would take that offer. So my only choice would be to leave.

Although – I could take off my mask and blow in their direction – sort of like flashing your high beams at a rude driver – but that would be irresponsible, and possibly even involve an emergency room visit.

So, best not to push the issue, which may well mean this pandemic never ends – but we’re all Americans, and we’ll cope as we always do.

Over time, we will sort ourselves into our own neighborhoods based on our maskedness, so we can shop at our own grocery stores, attend our own schools, develop our own dialects … and we will do it in the name of freedom.

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