“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
I thought my employer was my friend. I was approaching retirement
without a job and it appeared I would be in dire straits during that final
phase of life. Then I was given my latest job. It wasn’t an act of friendship,
per se. More an act of capitalism. We both benefited. I made close
acquaintances there. It felt like an act of friendship to me. Retirement was
going to be OK.
Then the corona virus struck. It appeared to be a more aggressive form
of the flu but the flu nonetheless. Precautions should be taken. Wash hands,
isolate the sick, protect the elderly. Fine. Common sense response.
Then everyone’s enemy, the government,
struck. Governments across the country began to engage in criminal activity
(see U.S. Constitution, Amendment 1; Texas Constitution, Bill of Rights,
Sections 6, 19, 27, 28, 29; Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242).
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Masks, anti-social distancing, isolation, lock downs, new propaganda
(“shelter-in-place”, “we’re all in this together”, “flatten the curve”, “stay
safe”, misleading statistics, etc., etc.). Business were crushed, lives
destroyed, generations unborn pushed further into debt.
Then my new friend became friends
with my enemy. Reaping billions of dollars in the process.
My employer mandated all the soul
crushing activity for its employees that governments were mandating for the
general population.
The friend of my enemy is my
enemy. I found myself stuck behind enemy lines.
What to do. Join the enemy? For most this was the easiest thing to do.
So they did. For me it was impossible. Fight the enemy? For most that was
impossible. For me it was easy (but highly stressful). So I did.
I was a flight instructor for
a major U.S. airline. My duties were to train new hire pilots and provide
recurrent training for current pilots. On a typical day I would spend 90
minutes briefing them on a variety of topics and review the maneuvers we were
going to practice in the simulator. Then it was four hours in the simulator
practicing various procedures.
When
the corona virus struck our training operation was shut down for three weeks
for a thorough cleaning. We were informed that when we went back to work we
were to wear masks while in the building, practice (anti-) social distancing
and keep the place as sanitary as an operating room. I could not imagine talking for almost six hours with
a mask on.
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Thanks to LewRockwell.com I knew the masks did not work, were actually
detrimental to our health, projected an image of fear, and were part of
governments’ agendas to isolate people and keep them in fear. All the better to
control them.
I knew I was not going to
keep my job. But rather than just cross over the battle lines by quitting I
thought I would plant some seeds of liberty and strike a small blow for
freedom.
Before work resumed after the
cleaning I sent an email to my supervisor (Junior Manager) asking the question
children love to ask but are eventually trained to avoid: “Why?” Why the masks?
I cited many statistics concerning the virus, mask use, transmissibility, etc.
No answer.
Over 80 other employees
received my email as I was responding to an email sent to everyone in the
department. I got a few disagreements accompanied by “news” articles that
pushed the scary narrative. Again, thanks to Lew Rockwell, I was able to refute
the articles. No response to my critiques.
My final activities at work
included not wearing a mask. In the spirit of colonial pamphleteers I placed
printouts in the break rooms. The “pamphlets” contain facts that put the corona
virus propaganda in context and expose the falsehoods. I should have signed
them with a scarlet pimpernel but didn’t think of it at the time.
In case any of my students
expressed concern over my not wearing a mask I prepared a single page paper
with some facts concerning the efficacy wearing a mask and the transmissibility
of the virus. One crew I showed it to requested to keep a copy of it. I jokingly
said that with the creeping Communism about they should be careful because it
might be considered contraband. Well, the joke was on me. I was right about the
Communism but was wrong about their role. Turns out they were snitches, not
sympathizers. They turned my papers over to management. We have a prohibition
against unauthorized “handouts”. I understood this with respect to training
materials. I didn’t think it applied to non-training information presented
outside the scheduled training period. At least that was my reasoning. That is
what I got called on the carpet for a couple of days ago. There was a meeting
to “council” me. Had I READ the paper to the students nothing would have
happened.
As luck would have it that
day was also the day I decided to wear a mask in the building so as to avoid
being accused of violating the mask policy. It had been very stressful going against company policy
so I wore a “mask”. Like this one:
Got a
variety of responses. I had it with me when I went to “the meeting”. The
participants in the meeting were Senior Manager, Junior Manager, Union Rep and
the Perp (me). SM was clearly angered by the mask. I said I was just following
orders to wear a mask. That, in fact, my mask was more impervious than the
cloth ones everyone else was wearing. This further angered him. He accused me
of “calling out the sheep in the room”. I guess the shoe fit but pinched a bit.
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The meeting was in a large
conference room. I was the first to sit and the rest sat down about 10 feet
from each other. Social distancing, dontcha know.
During the conversation I
pointed out some of the contradictions in the mask policy. UR replied with
appeals to authority and some irrelevant facts.
I asked, “why are you so afraid
of the virus?” SM said, “we’re not afraid of the virus”. I asked, “so why are
you acting like you are afraid?” No answer.
Every time I made a comment
they could not respond to they reiterated that they were not going to debate
this. I WILL wear a “proper” mask.
It’s interesting that there
appeared to be no indication that they were going to fire me. A letter of
counseling had been prepared in advance and signed by management. All it needed
was my signature.
I was told that I was to
follow protocol. If I didn’t I would be subject to another “counseling”. No
word about being fired. It seems I could either comply or continue to suffer
these meetings. They asked me if I wanted more such meetings. I said there
would be no more meetings. I think they thought I was going to comply. My
thought was I will not keep this job if I must comply and therefore there would
be no more meetings. But I didn’t say that. I let them think what they will
until I figured out a principled way out of this. I did not want to quit merely
because I did not want to wear a mask. That would just be my stubbornness
against theirs.
I don’t think they wanted to
fire me. In the course of my job I rarely interact with other instructors or
management personnel. I come in, spend 6 hours with two pilots, then go home. I
generally get very little feedback on how I am doing as an instructor. But for
some reason, over the past few weeks, a variety of sources have remarked that I
have a good reputation and am considered one of the better instructors.
I don’t think they expected
me to quit either. Who would give up an intriguing job that requires only 6
hours a day, 17 days a month and pays extremely well?
JM, my
about-to-be-ex-supervisor, unwittingly handed me the solution. He asked me if I
was a vet. “Yes”. What branch? “Air Force”. How long? “Four years”. The others
all piped up with their branch of service and how long. I detected a new tone
in their voices. More relaxed. Oh boy! We are all in the same club! I was part
of the inner circle. They had me now. JM told me that they were all “leaders”.
That I was a “leader”. As such it was my job to set an example and
enforce the rules. This is when the light dawned and I had a clear vision of
what I had to do.
If I was
to be a “leader” in this organization I would have to defend and enforce rules
I did not believe in. I have facts that contradict the narrative yet I must
ignore those facts and spout the company line no matter how much I disagree
with it.
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I told JM I was glad he
mentioned leadership. That it gave me some clarity and would make coming to a
decision easier. That I never thought of myself as a leader or that I was in
leadership position. I agreed with him. I guess I am a leader and should act
accordingly. He looked like he had hit the mark and thought I was coming
around. Then I pointed to my cloth mask laying on the table and said, “as a
leader that is not a direction I care to lead anyone.” I told them that between
the masking and the riots this country is going down the tubes. We have had
sensitivity training for sexual harassment and “unconscious bias”. Now it
appears we will have training to root out “systemic racism”. “I
cannot and will not lead anyone in that direction”, I said. That
was not what they expected.
After a moment of stunned
silence an angry SM said “that sounds like a resignation.” Probably a bluff to
scare me into compliance. JM agreed that it sounded like a resignation. I
agreed it sounded like a resignation. So SM asked me, “so is this a
resignation?” I said, “I guess so.” Done deal. I was resigning on the principle that
I could not lead people in a destructive direction. I had exposed the sheep to
anyone who would observe. I made my case. I stood my ground. I wish I could
have been more eloquent in my arguments but I am satisfied.
When we stood up and headed
toward the door we ended up within a couple of feet of each other without masks
on. I looked at them but they were not looking at anyone. It felt like an
awkward departure. (Like a musical phrase without a cadence?) So I
said, “it’s been good working with you” and held out my hand. They each shook
it. Contrary to policy. That felt better.
In prior thinking about the
possible outcomes of an encounter such as this my Walter Mitty wanted me to
utter the parting words, “I regret that I have but one job to give for
liberty.” (To paraphrase Becky Akers’ correction of a well known saying.) But
in the moment it didn’t come to mind.
Rod
Peet, Jr. [send
him mail] has been a professional pilot for 45 years. He has
worldwide experience as a bush pilot, crop duster, corporate pilot and airline
pilot.
Copyright © Rod Peet, Jr.
Copyright © Rod Peet, Jr.
