My dad often talked of his time growing up during the Second World War, recalling things like rationing food for the greater good. I’m sure that’s why he never left one crumb on his plate at our dinner table, and why we didn’t leave the table until we’d pretty much finished everything on our plates too.

And so I’ve always generally associated war with personal sacrifice, from the soldiers literally putting their lives on the line on the battlefield to the citizens at home doing their parts to support the cause. WWII was an American triumph over a global calamity, one that perhaps has come to symbolize our best-ever team effort as a nation.

After the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the United States by mid-March, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to compel meatpacking plants to keep running. Notwithstanding the questions I have about the complex legal implications of that decision, I do feel that we are at war, and with an even more sinister adversary: a virus that has killed more than 700,000 people around the world. Our country, which accounts for only 4.25% of the world's population, is home to nearly a quarter of those deaths.

That’s happening because we are not acting like we are at war. We are not aligned in the chain of command. We are not fully using the weapons we have to fight the enemy. We are not making enough personal sacrifices to be able to win as a unit.

Our commander in chief is not even in the same book, let alone on the same page, as the scientists who actually know how to address a pandemic, creating mixed messages and confusion at every level of government. The best-known weapons against the virus — six feet of space and, even more effective, masks — are not required or used universally. The CDC says universal mask wearing would wrangle this virus in a couple months. They are not required everywhere, though, because some people, including influential leaders, say that would violate an individual’s personal freedom.

The virus recently killed former presidential candidate and mask hater Herman Cain, but at least he died a “free” man. Earlier this month, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt was enjoying the same “freedom” he has so passionately defended, while quarantined in his house for two weeks recovering from COVID-19 with his wife and kids.

“Freedom isn’t free” is a phrase often used to remind Americans of the sacrifices that military men and women have made to ensure our freedoms. However, I also subscribe to the phrase “with freedom comes responsibility.” Not once have I thought that my state requiring masks in public places has put my freedom in jeopardy. Rather, I see it as a personal sacrifice I have to make in order to fight this virus and help protect my ranks from harm.

As a meat packer or processor, you have a right to be upset by the emergence of state requirements mandating social distancing and facial coverings in your plants. It could present an added cost, on top of the costs already outlaid to follow federal guidelines, and it threatens profitability. By initial read, the states’ efforts look legally toothless anyway. You also make valid points in arguing that requirements inside meat plants are only as effective as those outside of them. To that end, some of you even have called for a uniform national standard for wearing masks and remaining at an appropriate distance to put the public straight. I agree.

Nonetheless, the extent to which you comply with the rules (or voluntary guidelines) in order to help in this fight depends on the extent to which you are willing to make certain sacrifices in your operations.

In war, you are not free. In war, you do what it takes to preserve freedom.

That might even mean taking orders when the circumstances call for it.

Freedom isn't free

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