I’m really struggling.
I’m struggling with coming to grips with a lot of attitudes that seem pervasive in my country, the country I love.
I’m struggling to cope with my own shift in perspective.
I’m not necessarily talking politics here, although there is a political aspect to it.
What I’m really struggling with is the disconnect between the things I was brought up to believe in and how those things manifest in the world. (Caveat: when I write “raised” or “brought up” in this context, I’m talking about the wider conservative/church bubble, not things my parents taught me.)
Let me give you a few examples…
• On one hand, I was raised to believe that this is a Christian nation. Our government is based on “Judeo-Christian principles” and was annointed by God to be a beacon of hope and freedom to the world.
• On the other hand, if that same “Christian” government seeks to take care of the sick, the immigrant, or the orphan, we scream “socialism!”
• On one hand, I was raised to believe that people who don’t love this country exactly as it is should get on a plane and leave it.
• On the other hand, take down a statue celebrating a racist piece of trash who literally betrayed this country, spit in our faces, and killed our sons, and we shout “don’t destroy ‘our’ ‘history’!”
• On one hand, I heard: “I need a stockpile of guns and ammo to protect myself and my family.”
• On the other hand, I hear: “I’m not getting no vaccine. God will protect me from a virus.”
So what’s this all about?
My daughters had their annual checkup today. I asked their pediatrician for her thoughts on where we’re at with Covid, the Delta variant, etc.
She told me, “Last Sunday night, I had a conversation with my husband (who is also a doctor) and told him that I was going to start the week with renewed energy and enthusiasm. I was going to compassionately talk to every parent about how important it is to get vaccinated.”
Then she said, “By my fourth patient, I was so discouraged that I was in tears.”
Why?
Because of the level of misinformation people are relying upon to make a decision that is potentially life or death not only to them, but to others—their friends, their families, and untold numbers of Americans (you know, the people we’re supposedly supposed to care about…) whose names they’ll never know.
I have trusted this wonderful physician with the health of my daughters since they were mere hours old.
She’s not a political operative. She’s not a “Fauci-ite” (good god, that term, don’t even get me started… ).
She’s a regular human who has dedicated her life to making sure my kids and yours live into adulthood.
Which, you know, is a pretty remarkable feat when you consider that nearly 1/5 of Americans failed to reach adulthood just 100 years ago.
But you know… scientists and all. What do they know, right?
And I’ve seen the excuses for not getting vaccinated.
They’re weak.
Like, anemic weak:
“I have heard way too many horrible stories.”
“I don’t listen to the media I listen to actual people.”
“I just had a friend tell me her mother is now 65% blind from it.”
I don’t even know what to say to that. Those comments literally came from one Facebook post.
And that last one... Kyrie, eleison.
On Last Week Tonight, this week… John Oliver put it perfectly when commenting about a person who won’t get the vaccine because it’s “the government’s agenda” to get everyone vaccinated:
“Uh, yeah… Public health officials’ agenda is to get you vaccinated. And you know what Covid’s agenda is? To fucking kill you. To burrow into your body through your hot little mouth, fuck around with your lungs, flip your nostrils off, make soup taste more like nothing than it already does, and then kill you.”
For a long time I believed in—or at least hoped for—a world where reason and logic were the great achievement of the human race, the thing that set us apart from our biological cousins all around.
I’m not so sure anymore.
And that’s a scary place to be.
That being said…
(1) If you’ve been on the fence, please go get vaccinated.
(2) A HUGE shout to all the medical professionals, scientists, and more who are fighting this battle every day, all day, in an effort to save a life.
You are all heroes, every last one of you.
I don’t know how you do it, but please, please, keep up the fight, and I’ll be in your corner.
A few choice articles for anyone who cares to dig deeper:
• Three things to know about the long-term side effects of COVID vaccines
• COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases: Data from the States
• Conservative Nashville Radio Host Who Regrets Mocking Vaccines Is ‘Fighting for His Life’
• Texas has seen nearly 9,000 COVID-19 deaths since February. All but 43 were unvaccinated people.
Much love,
b