This is the letter all of us wanted to write

Letter of the day in today's LA Times:

"To the editor: This is what I want to tell the protesters.

No one likes the economic shutdown, but I am sorry that whoever raised you made you believe that the world revolves around you, because (spoiler alert) it does not.

Your "right" to go to the movies, the beach or the nail salon takes a backseat to everyone else's right to be protected against a new, highly contagious and deadly virus. No one is trying to take your rights away; rather, state and local officials are just trying to do their best to keep most of us alive.

This is not about you. We must all look outside the narrow prism of our own little lives to see how our individual actions might affect everyone else. Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities is not freedom, it is adolescence.

So please, try to be a grown-up for now. This is not going to last forever.

Penelope Burley, Santa Rosa Valley, Calif."