Do you want to understand the technical and medical issues with respect to the roiling debate over the Coronavirus (COVID-19)? Yes? Then don’t bother with Insanitybytes22’s post. That is not the subject. Instead, the subject is respect, the respect we owe each other.
One of the most difficult things for us human beings is to just live and let live. When someone believes something different from what we believe, we don’t easily find contentment in our own beliefs. Instead, Satan tempts us with our desire to prove our certitude. Satan inspires us to change the mind of or destroy that other, that other who as an affront to our pride dares to believe what we do not.
Some politicians, giving politics a bad name in the process, take advantage of our haughty and unyielding pride. They make use of our differences and pit us against each other. Devious leaders use our hatred against the “other” to persuade us to give them power and authority we would otherwise never entrust them with.
Therefore, if we want to understand the success of the likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, we must examine our own character, not the character of devious leaders. Are we willing to respect our neighbor’s right to do and believe as he or she wishes, so long as our neighbor respects the rights of others? Are we willing to show respect for others by respecting their right to be treated as a child of God equal to our self? If we are not willing to accept the equality our neighbors in the eyes of God, if cannot permit others to be free, then we ourselves are not fit for freedom.
Thus, the price we pay for not respecting the image of God in other human beings is slavery. For to be free, we must accept the right of our disagreeable neighbors to be free.
Perhaps it is because I am a bit older, a Gen X, or perhaps it is because I’ve always believed in cultivating this kingdom culture of honor, of respecting the dignity of other people, no matter how they are behaving? Regardless of where it comes from, I do hold those values close to my heart. Aretha Franklin once said, “respect is a basic human right.” Amen.
It’s a basic human right not because people are worthy, not because people have earned it, but because we wish to honor the Imago Dei within, the fact that people were made in the image of God.
I do hold those values and I hold them up in stark contrast to the values going on in our modern culture right now, our modern world. Oh my goodness, have we ever flipped a 180 and tried to just build a world out of contempt, rebellion…
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Citizen Tom
Citizen Tom 
Insanitybytes22, Tom,
While I agree in respect and freedom from busybodies in life, I wonder if we should keep in mind that there exists “thin places” where heaven and earth come together on our planet.
For example, this following statement from an article:
“The edge is a holy place, or as the Celts called it, “a thin place” and you have to be taught how to live there. To take your position on the spiritual edge of things is to learn how to move safely in and out, back and forth, across and return.”
In other words, when we are in our home or any area in our land of freedom, we have the Right to choose if we want to wear a mask or not. However, once we decide to cross over the edge, whether physically or spiritually, we have to learn how to safely cross and return.
Making a decision not to wear a mask in violation of either a law or a business that states you may not enter without a mask to protect an employee or another customer is in a sense being disrespectful.
In order to gain or acquire respect, we must also be respectful to the needs of our community, in my opinion.
Frankly, I hate wearing the mask because of my breathing problems. However, knowing how the virus spreads, either droplets, or now science is wondering in air streams in both outside and inside environments, is a real risk we all now must live with and must consider in respect for others outside our “thin lines” of choice physically or spiritually “in order to move safely in or out, back or forth, in order to return.”.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
https://www.cometothecrossing.com/resources/blog/understanding-thin-places-where-heaven-and-earth-come-together