(x = space)
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But If the Numbers Lie
(they don’t)
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We thought we’d wait a year
Though we did it badly
We’d rather believe conspiracies
That allow us to travel
Go to bars
And live virtuously
In neighborhoods
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We didn’t take the year
In fact
And now numbers are increasing
There should be little wonder
Undeserved curiosity
About the sick and dying
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So back up now
Go the other way
We know the options for belief
But by now we know the dead
And could take a chance
On caution
And on care
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C L Couch
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Are there choices in belief? Absolutely. And options for our actions. And I wonder if we might love our neighbor, then we could side with caution and prevention and, yes, inconvenience. For now, I think it must be an inconvenient world.
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Photo by Alexander Grigoryev on Unsplash
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clcouch123 
March 30, 2021 at 5:35 pm
I understand the concern, but the n umbers are no different in Florida than California or New York. It likely isn’t helping and is probably going to be an excuse to take freedom away. Do you take freedom away for high death rates driving a car? What about suicide and murder rates that have escalated? And mental illness? Just disregard? And the economic burden if it’s not working? It’s very difficult to make these decisions and we likely won’t know what was right until we look back on it all. But my guess is you won’t stop this. Therapeutics are key and maybe the vaccine will help. But I don’t think the data backs up these lockdowns. I guess we’ll have to see. But even if masks and lockdowns DID work, it would be better to ASK people to cooperate and give up freedom, not mandate things which just backfires anyway. This has never been done before–to quarantine the well. Vaccine passports are a dangerous road here, invasions into privacy. And how much will it work to justify all that? If the death rate or other things were higher, you’d get voluntary compliance, of course. Which could happen if the situation changes. I imagine I said something like this before that offended you. I feel sorry about that because I was enjoying our exchanges and your writing so much. So I’ll just plant this seed that it’s just very difficult to do what you are suggesting. All life has risk. What quality of life is there if our children can’t go to school and me, as a grandmother, can’t see my children and grandchildren? And there’s the question of our own body and decisions that should be our own. But good luck to you, Christopher. I wish you well.