We're two days into the removal of the mask mandate and people seem to still be having the same argument they've been having for a year now. Half of people praised the City of Lawton for passing such legislation, the other half of people had a problem with it. If you sit on the fence like I do, you can see and understand both sides of the argument. If you're not a central moderate at heart, I'll explain.

When the City of Lawton got the idea that they could just force people to wear masks, they passed a mandate. Well, technically they passed like three or four because they kept making mistakes in the one page piece of legislation. Go figure, it was written by local politicians not lawyer politicians. While that was a fun time to poke fun at Lawton's elected elite, lets not walk back down that road and stay on task. They decided that if a person was to go out and be in the general public within the city limits, they were to wear a mask and social distance when inside any building or structure. I get it. I was wearing a mask two months prior when the CDC was still towing the line that masks weren't applicable. Plain and simple, this mandate was pushed through to curb those who would otherwise choose not to wear a mask. Half of everybody cheered.

The other half of everyone instantly had a problem with this mandate because of one reason. It wasn't that they didn't want to wear masks per se, they didn't want to be forced to wear a mask by a local government. The general consensus on this side of the issue is "It was never the city governments place to force anything on its citizens. It should be left up to the individual business owners and establishments to make and enforce their own rules." You can't really argue with that either. Any business should be able to set the terms of service for their consumers. I don't think so many people would have fought the mask issue had it not been for the poor decision making and amateur power-grabs of our elected leaders.

Now that we no longer have the forced mandate, we have the system that half has been asking for this entire time. Each individual business and establishment can still set their own terms for how their customers may frequent said business. For instance, if the grocery store requires masks to shop there, people should be grown up enough to carry on wearing a mask while grabbing their groceries. If any establishment decides nobody needs a mask, in disagreement, you hold your own destiny to not shop there. See how that works? It's time to end all of this argumentative nonsense on social media about "They're not wearing a mask" or "They're making me wear a mask." As consumers and free citizens again, the power has rightfully been restored to you as the individual.

Maybe you agree, maybe you disagree... we've talked about this a lot over the last year. It's OK that you and I don't see eye to eye. Does this make us enemies? No matter what the medias say, it doesn't. We're just both free to have our own opinions. While I think my mask should have been my decision all along, I'll still wear mine until we make a major stride against this virus, and most likely choose to spend my money where my mask is welcomed. Others will do it differently. You will do you... just try not to be a Karen about it.

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