The rejection of logic and reason often has tragic consequences.
Witch trials, genocides and unjustified military actions such as the Iraq war can at least partly be explained by the dismissal of fact in favor of a preconceived but illogical conclusion. Such was the case during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that resulted in four deaths, scores of injuries and the suicide of four officers in the days and months that followed. All due to a charlatan’s clarion call to dismiss legitimate election results in favor of a lie repeated ad nauseam.
Closer to home, some of our Midcoast friends and neighbors are also turning their backs on logic and reason, rejecting mask mandates and vaccinations. They may do this in the name of freedom, but tactics that include disrupting and shouting down local school boards smack of intimidation.
To those folks, we can say nothing. What possible argument could be made two years into a pandemic that has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 Mainers that has not been made already?
For the past two years, science has consistently confirmed that the best way to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus is through masking and vaccination.
Yet, there is a vocal segment in the world today rejecting masking and vaccination. So, the virus spreads and mutates, and the death toll rises.
What can one do?
To start, we can support and be grateful for the healthcare workers who push themselves to exhaustion to save lives. While it’s infuriating to see their sacrifices be undone by anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers, we must find inspiration from those who give selflessly in our darkest hours.
We can be grateful to those who serve our communities during this pandemic — specifically, those who sit on the Maine School Administrative District 75 and Regional School Unit 5 boards who are doing the right thing in protecting the children of their districts by listening to the experts and holding up mask mandates, and encouraging testing and vaccinations.
They are doing their work for their community, in the face of intimidation from constituents who appear to have abandoned reason.
To those serving our community in a world gone mad: We wish we could give you more than our thanks and our support. You deserve more, and you deserve better.
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