Tag: consequences

This post might be a bit more political than normal. My intent is not to make people feel bad on either side of the line, but more to remind us all to come together. I have been watching and listening, as have we all, to the thoughts on the Covid19 vaccine. I find it interesting how divisive this has been to our country. Neighbors against neighbors, states against states, human beings fighting over everything, but particularly the vaccine.

I have been thinking a lot about vaccinations. We have had great success with vaccines to prevent measles, mumps, polio, small pox, chicken pox, and on and on. We now have a new vaccine for Covid. In the past, we were asked to vaccinate our kids against all of these diseases, because they have never been totally eradicated from the planet, so there is always a possibility of them resurfacing over time. There was always a choice to be made, however, on the part of each individual. I do not recall ever having anyone look at me and ask if I had had my vaccinations or not. I have never had anyone tell me that I couldn’t participate in something, or be around others because I may or may not have been vaccinated against any particular disease. I also have never had to carry around a card telling everyone that my vaccinations are current. We all have been blessed with the freedom of choice, and not being judged for either one, or at least mostly not being judged for having vaccinated or not.

What has happened to our country? We are more concerned with the business of our neighbor than we are with our own health and safety. To wear a mast of not, if not, to be judged by everyone else wearing a mask, and in some instances ridiculed for not doing so. To believe the things the media is telling us or not, and then, either way, to be told you’re wrong, your sources are wrong, you are being misled. To vaccinate or not, and then, again, on either side to be told you’re being misled, or that you don’t care about anyone else if you choose not to. I think one thing this pandemic has shown us, is how much bad information there is out there. It doesn’t matter your opinion on anything, you can find an expert to back you up. It’s hard to weed through it all.

I still believe in the ability to choose for ourselves what we think is best for our own bodies. Let me make it perfectly clear here, I am not talking about abortion, that involves more than one body and I believe you gave up your rights to choose when you chose to have sex. Every action has a consequence. But, knowing that every action has a consequence, if someone decides to get vaccinated, then they get the consequences of that action, hopefully it results in less risk for infection, hopefully there are no side effects to the vaccine 5 years down the road. But it’s your choice, and it’s a private one. If you choose not to get vaccinated, then you get the consequences of that action too. You may contract Covid, you may not. You may end up in the hospital on life support, or die. You may not. But again, you have that opportunity to choose.

I guess what I think is, that we need to stop being so worried about what our neighbor is doing and not doing, and do what we feel like is best for us personally. Let our neighbors do what is best for them personally. And then, in the end, be kind to them. Don’t judge them, remembering that you don’t want to be judged either. I love the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That has been forgotten in many instances in our world today. We don’t want to be judged, so we cannot pass judgement on others. We want our thoughts and opinions to be considered, so we need to likewise consider EVERYONE else’s thoughts and opinions, not just the ones we agree with or like. That doesn’t mean that we have to agree, or change what we believe, but we can learn and be compassionate towards our fellowmen, towards our neighbor, whoever they may be. So today, be kind, have compassion, don’t judge, and learn something new about someone else.