There’s a lot of stress in the world over the mandate to vaccinate. There’s legitimate concern about government overreach, but there’s also a global pandemic.
Any sense of middle ground gets lost when politics control the narrative, and it needs to be rediscovered by the ordinary flyover parts of this country. Who knows? Maybe those in the policy and fashion and power nubs of the nation will catch wind and imitate us for a change.
It could happen.
It’s simple. Really. For most of 18 months, we labored from home in most job positions. We adapted to the reality of not being able to be in proximity to each other. Vaccines or masks, or vaccines or virtual would be a reasonable compromise for many, allowing those who for whatever reasons can’t or won’t take the shot to not either submit themselves to potential infection, nor to a forced injection. It’s not perfect but no policy is. Policy and procedure have to work with the imperfect humans that must enforce and endure them.
I want vaccinations for everyone because I want everyone to be able to go to the hospital to see their new nephew or hold the hands of a beloved grandmother or to simply visit a sick friend. I want the vaccinations so we can go to a 5 guys and get haircuts without worrying if we either infected someone or brought home an infection to someone not able to get the shot (like those under 12).
Spending time at the hospital and in the care of the medical profession, I can tell you, those needing care sit in their beds looking around at the reality of being alone and it makes being sick that much harder. The nurses do what they can, but it was the mothers and fathers and spouses and cousins and aunts and friends and children that poured cups of water and helped the ones they loved to the bathroom or adjusted the bed when people were allowed in to visit the sick.
We need to be able to return to those thousand little tasks that Covid took from us. I want the beds open for the crisis pregnancy, for the trauma team’s latest patient, for the broken leg and the emergency surgery. They can’t be if they’re filled with people suffering from complications from a preventable contagious disease. So I urge everyone who hasn’t to get the shot. We want the hospitals not at capacity with Covid, and I can tell you, in Maryland, even in Montgomery County –which has some of the highest rates of vaccination, the rate of infection is going up because we are out and moving and interacting and not always being vigilant about the masks and hand washing and social distancing. We’re just not.
‘Till we can have faces, we must face this reality. We live in a global society that worries about over and underreacting, and responds excessively to either. To become a global community, we must seek to serve the weakest, we must seek to protect the most vulnerable, and we must facilitate kindness wherever we can. It’s not without sacrifice, it’s not without effort. It’s sacrificial. It’s sacramental. As the Gospel said this week, “Faith without works is dead.” We must show our faith through our works.
Catholics should be one voice –let us help you, let us serve you, let us sacrifice for you.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In