When you have the level of demonization going around traditional and social media towards the unvaccinated, at what point does this line of thought become justified and the norm. It is a scary time for personal liberty.
I’m sorry you feel that way and I understand. My family, my wife, our children and their grandparents have sacrificed a lot of our own personal liberty over the last 18 months. Working and learning from home, wearing masks, foregoing birthday parties and family visits and social occasions and career opportunities and more. We did it for the greater good, playing a responsible role as members of society to try to put a stop to the pandemic so we can all move on.
We know we were blessed with the ability to do all this. We also realize that many could not. We did it not as an exercise in sacrificing liberty, but as an exercise in doing whatever we could to deny COVID a path to infecting ourselves and others.
In the meantime, talented and dedicated scientists— people far, far smarter than you or me or most anyone else— worked their tails off to provide us all with a path out of this mess. The vaccines are an absolute gift, a literal life preserver in the midst of an unprecedented storm.
We live in a society where the vaccines are free and available at will on just about any street corner.
Many other nations are far less fortunate. And they are suffering as a result.
But our own ongoing suffering seems, to many of us, tragically and woefully self-inflicted.
Why as a nation do so many feel so entitled to senselessly and selfishly prolong a pandemic in the misguided name of protecting liberty— when the real ongoing threat to liberty is the prolonging of the pandemic itself?
Days have turned to weeks, to months, to years.
The vaccine is there and readily available.
And yet, so many still choose not to take the amazing opportunity we’ve been handed— on a sliver platter no less— to get us out of this mess.
It should come as no surprise that many of us view this as bewildering, inexplicable and irresponsible.
People who don’t feel that way are of course entitled to their own opinion. And they are free to express it. They are also free to express fear and uncertainty whenever they feel their rights are being threatened.
And if they feel they are being shamed, well, they are more than free to express that opinion as well.
Opinions matter. They are valuable. They shape our public discourse and public debate.
But the facts remain.
No one is forcing anyone to get vaccinated.
The vaccines have proven themselves to be remarkably safe and effective.
The more people who get vaccinated, the sooner we will be able to emerge from this mess.
Those able to get vaccinated— but who choose not to do so— serve as vectors for the virus to continue its relentless spread, contributing to ongoing illness, stress, and economic harm.
And the unnecessary deaths of our fellow citizens.
Including the very folks we should, as a mature and responsible society, be going out of our way to protect.
Each and every day, every minute that we choose to wallow in fear and/or outrage over the spectre of lost liberty— when asking folks to step up to do their part as mature members of society is not in any conceivable way a violation of anyone’s liberty— each day, every single
second we choose this path is an absolute gift.
A gift to COVID.
On a silver platter.
And an ongoing detriment to the health, welfare and liberty of each and every one of us.
Expressing this is not shaming. It is not calling someone stupid. It is a heartfelt and urgent plea.
That we must stop this endless diversion of energy, attention and resolve from the task at hand. And focus on the very real and truly urgent existential threat we all continue to face.
