Weekend Word, BBC radio Wales, 16.07.2021
From next Monday, if you take a train from Swansea to London you’ll be required to wear a face mask as you travel through Wales. Once you’ve passed through the Severn Tunnel, you can take it off if you want because the rules are different in England from that day.
The reason for the difference isn’t the rate of infections, which is lower in Wales, or of vaccinations, which is a little higher. It’s a choice. Welsh leaders are leaning more on the side of caution and control, while England is veering more towards autonomy and personal responsibility. Which approach is right?
Consider this. You have two options. In one case, you have to do something and will be punished if you don’t. In the other, it’s up to you. I suspect most of us would instinctively prefer to be given a choice. We value choice as consumers, as individual and as citizens.
Now imagine that the choice applies to the speed you can drive a car. And it isn’t just your choice; it’s everyone’s. So now there are no speed limits. How safe would you feel on the roads? If we think others should be compelled to drive safely, we must accept that we’ll be subject to the same rules.
Rules aren’t necessarily bad, and the real issue is how we balance control with freedom. Whether things like masks and social distancing are mandated or voluntary depends on whether you think it’s reasonable to expect that people will make the right decision once they’re given the facts.
That isn’t straightforward. It isn’t enough for some people to act responsibly, everyone has to. That’s why we’ve been willing to accept lockdown restrictions. Now vaccines are shifting the balance of risk, and the burden of choice is being returned to individuals – just a little more slowly in Wales than in England.
As the pandemic has unfolded I’ve been reflecting that acting ethically is about finding a balance. One starting point for Buddhist ethics is personal responsibility: my moral choices should be my own. Another is recognising that actions have consequences. And, the third is that these consequences depend on conditions. I value my free will, but I can’t will coronavirus to disappear. As Buddhists say, to act well is to follow a middle way.
