I'm 66 years old and I have significant respiratory issues. If I'm infected by Covid-19 there's a good chance that I'll die.

I'm writing today to give all of you who would like to get on with your lives permission to do so.

At this point you are surely asking yourself, who is this Theodore Dawes and what gives him the right to tell me what I can and can't do?

Glad you asked. As it happens, there's a very good chance I'm the most important person in your life right now.

I'm the guy whose life some very loud people are saying you must save. In order to do that you must give up your job and avoid going to movies, restaurants, bars and beaches.

I'm absolving you of that responsibility.

The real question is, why do I have to say it?

Glad you asked. The doctors who are running this national pie fight can't say it. It isn't that they don't believe it, it just doesn't fit with their way of thinking. They have been trained for decades in epidemiology, which has as its only goal ensuring that an epidemic kills as few people as possible. They aren't just unschooled in economics, governance and sociology, they purposely put those considerations out of their thinking in order to concentrate on one thing:  Saving lives that might otherwise be lost to a biological pathogen.

That's important because precisely what needs to be said is this:  If you go back to work, more people will die. Most will be older and have various additional medical difficulties, such as respiratory issues.

Clearly no politician is going to say this. Their job is to gather and retain power, so the words, "Hey, some of you are going to die" are never going to cross their lips.

But I'll say them, and I'll just add, "Good luck and I hope we'll see you down the road."

Under the moral gaze

The politicians are under particular pressure now, while the New Puritans, including virtually everyone in the news media, are out and about ensuring their own notions of moral righteousness are adhered to.

You may see it as going to work, earning a living, and taking care of your family. But they will explain to you why you are inhumane and will thump you about the head and shoulders with their weighty verbal bludgeons.

Murderer! they will cry.

But what they never say is this: “Here are the conditions that must obtain before you will be released.”  That’s because they don't know. And really, it's secondary. The first purpose of their high dudgeon is to hold you publicly in contempt.

Saying that these folks would rather see your family destroyed than release you from your home is an incredibly vicious thing to say. I don't believe it's true of all of them. Some are genuinely interested in saving your life.

But let me tell you why I believe it isn't true of all.

First, you may have noticed that despite the steady drip of good news about Covid-19, they are as diligent as ever about criticizing those who would step out. We now know it's unlikely you'll catch Covid-19 from surfaces. Moreover, we know the death rate is a tiny fraction of what it was initially considered to be. We've learned that keeping our distance, particularly indoors, is the key. But they haven't budged.

Second, there is their utter disregard for the facts that call for different reopening strategies for different areas and people. Just two states account for approximately 40 percent of Covid-19 deaths. Forty-three percent of the deaths to date have occurred in nursing homes; 80 percent among people over 65. Yet everyone must be quarantined.

Third. Well, not everyone must be quarantined. Just the non-essential people, like those who don't work at Walmart and McDonalds. Is it possible some of these folks aren't so much essential as they are expendable?

Fourth, you must ask yourself how many of these loud people are being crushed by financial difficulties and strained relations. I don't know the exact number, but my experience leads me to believe that the percentage without income or savings begins with point-zero.

Here is what Thomas Sowell had to say about circumstances like these:

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

A Covid-19 reckoning

I'm not one of those who thinks this whole thing is a hoax. I've had five friends come down with Covid-19. All survived, but 100,000 others have not. And just going through it is a shattering misery.

Trust me, I'm not a hero. If you kill me, I'll be good and pissed off. But the likelihood of that happening is (listen to me!) in direct proportion to how stupidly I conduct myself. If I pay attention to the risks in my life, those chances are very slim.

And if you do your commonsense part (and I'm trusting you will), the numbers drop even further. Keep your distance.

But you know what? Even if I do shuffle off this mortal coil, so be it. I'm old. If you want to measure life in laughs, then I'm very old indeed.

We Boomers have been lousy caretakers of the legacy that descended to us. Through a miracle of selfishness, we've somehow been even worse to the generations that followed. It's about time we did something to justify our existence.

So, here's what I'm telling you. The next time someone tells you to stay home because you are going to kill other people, tell him, “Dude, I hear you but it's okay. Ted Dawes said I could go about my business. And he's an old guy with respiratory issues.”

There you have it. You have my permission, dear reader, to go to work, make a living, take care of your family and -- when you're feeling particularly adventurous -- have a barbecue in the park.

Good luck and I hope we'll see you down the road.

image credit: Pixabay

Theodore Dawes is a former reporter, editor and publisher. Now he's retired and living in Texas.