“My Virus, My Choice!”
The covid 19 pandemic has been a blessing for many people. It has given individuals a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and allows time to be made for things that truly matter. For me, this quarantine has allowed me to press pause on the cycle of being a collegiate student athlete and spend quality time with my family for the first time since beginning my years at USC. I have been given a break from my rigorous athletic schedule and have been gained the opportunity to focus on my mental health for the first time in a very long time.
Overall, this pandemic has not been all bad, so when I learned that people were protesting the stay at home order I was shocked and confused. I do not have any social media platforms, so the first time I encountered the right wing party that was protesting the regulations put in place for our safety, I was a little late to the news.
My boyfriend and I were driving through downtown Sacramento while on our way to Albany, Oregon when we came to a halt in standstill traffic. We looked out our windows to find people parading the streets, holding up picket signs that read statements like, “ Stop quarantine, start work!”, “My virus, my choice!”, and “Freedom TRUMPS safety communism!” No only were there people parading the streets, but the cars surrounding us also had American flags hanging out of their windows while they were vigorously honking their horns in support of the protest.
My boyfriend and I then went on to have a conversation about how ignorant it is for people to value their freedoms over their safety and the wellbeing of others. We are at a point in history where we’re witnessing a pandemic like nothing ever seen before, and all these people are concerned about is being able to act like everything is normal though thousands of people are dying everyday from the covid 19 virus. I automatically labeled those people inappropriate, selfish, and downright ignorant.
This was about three months ago near the beginning of quarantine, but now that this isolation has been going on for a while, I have been able to witness the negative impacts this quarantine has had on everyday people.
My dad is an AAU basketball coach whose main goal is to help young women get into college by playing basketball. He takes pride in giving children from unfortunate backgrounds an outlet from their negative circumstances and helps them develop character traits that will help them become successful in their future. Quarantine has prohibited him from getting in the gym with all his teams and his players are all left stuck at home.
About a month ago, my father called me crying. My pops is the strongest man I know and does not get upset very easily, but something had my father in so much distress he was struggling to get his words out. It turned out earlier that day he had received a call from one of his players that lived on the east side San Antonio, which was known as the less fortunate part of town. She called him panicked, needing immediate help. After my father got her situated with emergency services, she then explained to my father the abuse she had been enduring.
This young woman had been in my father’s program for about two years. She wasn’t the best basketball player but she never missed practice or tournaments and would always give 110% effort. It was during that phone call that my father learned why she was so dedicated to basketball. She explained that she had been being sexually abused by her uncle since she was in elementary school. She never missed the days of practice or tournaments because that was the only break she would have from the abuse she endured while she was at home with her uncle.
Quarantine kept her locked in the house with the monster that was responsible for reeking havoc on her life. What pushed her to her breaking point and led her to finally open up to my father was the fact that her uncle moved on from only abusing her, to beginning to abuse her little sister as well.
Stay at home regulations were put in place to protect us, but it doesn’t take into account the people who need protection from their home. It’s not always that a person is enduring abuse in their household, but it could be that their environment isn’t the best place for them to maintain a healthy energy.
When I first witnessed the right wing conservatives protesting quarantine regulations I automatically labeled them ignorant because I couldn’t understand the reason they felt their freedoms were more important than safety. I still do not totally agree with their message, but I now understand that the judgement I automatically passed on them for their protests were like the people that looked down upon the black community for rioting after the death of George Floyd.
It is easy to pass judgement when you lack understanding, but once you’re able to gain a perspective that you hadn’t had before, it makes all the difference.
