During this time around Memorial Day one is reminded that there is a cost to living in a free country. The number of Americans who have died in wars since, and including WWI, is about 624,000 – a period of a little over 100 years. This figure doesn’t include other casualties.

There are other costs to living in a free country. In this country one freedom is to choose whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated to protect oneself and others from COVID-19. Just over one million Americans have died of COVID-19 during the time of the pandemic. Nearly a third of those deaths could have been prevented if everyone were vaccinated.

Another cost of freedom is the freedom to easily buy guns of all sorts, including military weapons. As a result of this freedom the United States has a very high rate of gun-related deaths compared to other developed countries. Our rate is 3.96 deaths per 100,000. This is about eight times higher than the rate in Canada, 0.47 per 100,000, and 100 times as high as in Great Britain at 0.04 per 100,000.

The American version of freedom is very “expensive” in terms of lives lost.

Stephen Burt
Edgecomb