Bravo for Mike Selig’s letter in The Columbian (“Disgracing their forebears,” Sept. 12). He is right to scold those who, due to some misguided notion of constitutional “rights,” refuse COVID-19 vaccinations and masks. I want to add this: Personal rights and freedom are not absolute, even in a democracy. There is no freedom without some personal sacrifice for the common good. If everyone only acts for themselves, there is no structure to protect that freedom; there is only a vacuum into which tyrants will step.
Those who shun the trivial, cost-free effort of getting vaccinated and donning a mask have been fooled into acting against their own self-interest. In the process, they pose a hazard to all.
