Interesting article. So I’ll just share. Not trying to shift anyone’s mind.
Mind you, I am on no side, really….I know too many people who have been hurt on both sides of the dilemma. I know people who have died from this virus, dear friends who lost loved ones. They are angry their loved ones didn’t do more to protect themselves. Just angry. Grieving.
We are ALL angry by now….I try to keep that in check, doing all the things, bringing in my own light….I’m angry at all of it, actually. I don’t know what is true and what is not. Round and round. I doubt everything. I’m extremely stressed.
All I can say is, over the course of my life, there have been many who have died from the flu virus - what we used to dread when I was a kid. Temperatures of 104, lying in bed for a week, coughing till our ribs cracked. Some years were worse than others. Most of us survived.
My parents dragged me to the Dr every fall for a “flu vaccine” from the time I was 6. I had NO say in the matter until I left home at 25. (I’m now 68.) After that, my profession (dental field) demanded I be vaccinated for a number of things….small pox, polio, tetanus, flu, Hepatitis B….you know, the CYA stuff. Except for the Hepatitis B in 1986, I’d had all the others. Before college, mom made me get measles and mumps vaccines too, as I never had either one - try as she might, to have my brother pass them to me. You were also not an adult at 18, the way you are now…..it was 21. Parents were still in charge. 😳
I do know that in my profession, masks worked very well at reducing our exposure to disease from patients who chose to come to us when they were sick - or about to be. I wore a mask at work, day in and day out, for 30 years. The kids loved to take a mask home so they could pretend dentist! There was no fear in this.
This was all a LONG time ago….I am old. Things were VERY different. There was very little science, no place like the internet to look stuff up, and people trusted their Dr’s. There was no CDC. Heck, no one even had insurance back then. Not till the 70’s sometime. Life was lived on a different plane.
Also, I was privileged and white, which we know makes a huge difference in who gets health care here in the US, and the quality of that care. In this country, systemic racism is a huge player. We don’t love our black/brown brothers and sisters the way we do those with light skin. Pity this, that our love is so limited.
Even alternative medicine - very expensive here in the States.
When I switched to mostly alternative medicine about 15 years ago, my friends back home thought I was really really odd. When I changed my diet to manage my gut issues - a few criticized me - “you won’t be socially acceptable” they said. Because I can’t eat gluten or dairy??? Really?
I discontinued getting vaccines in 2003. Now that I’m old, I’m told I need Shingles vaccine, and 2 kinds of pneumonia vaccines. I have refused. I was in and out of my mother’s and my brother’s nursing homes for 15 years, and never got shingles or pneumonia. Neither did my brother. 🤷🏼♀️
I’ve read about the Joe Rogan issue. My beef with him is his disrespect for women and persons of color. While he is entitled to his opinions about that, however, I find both offensive to me personally. And I have boundaries about them.
On the vaccine stuff, it is just blah, blah, blah…nothing I haven’t already heard.
I have spent a lot of time with alternative medicine folks….so I understand vaccine risks. As I said, I know people I love who have been vaccinated, and some who have not. Some have gotten sick with Covid, some have not. A few who were very compromised with their general health, died from Covid. Some recovered. Some with vaccines get sick anyway (just like with my flu shots long ago), some don’t. Oh and yeah, most of the kids in my elementary school didn’t get flu shots, by the way - $$$$. They were no more sick, any more often than I was. Just saying.
It is obvious to me that there are other factors with this virus which determine who gets sick and who does not. Factors that have been overlooked by science at this point. Or, more likely, are not yet discoverable by the means we have. Some days it is one big f-ing experiment.
I’m on and off with vaccines in general. Have they saved lives? Sure - with small pox and polio decidedly so. In college, I had a friend in an iron lung machine from polio. She died at age 40. What I do see, and distrust, is that we will enter another “vaccine tunnel” - just like with flu - you need a vaccine every year for this stuff. I am very unsure I’m willing to go there at this point. There is so much unknown….and THAT is what I find frightening. We don’t know what we don’t know.
It isn’t political for me. Just many unanswered questions. And who is profiting from this in the end? It is all about $$$ somewhere along the line. I’m not a conspiracy theory person either….however, my gut senses that in the beginning, this virus was experimental, possibly for biological weapons, and there was an “accident” - or not. Perhaps it is a blessing that only a few million have died and not the entire planet…..I don’t know. I don’t say that lightly. It is suffering. We are all suffering in ways too numerous to count.
Abby, I was honored to learn my letter inspired this beautiful meditation. I love how you arc from enjoyment to dejection to cynicism to anger to introspection and ultimately to courageous hope. That last paragraph gave me goosebumps.
Hi Abby,
Interesting article. So I’ll just share. Not trying to shift anyone’s mind.
Mind you, I am on no side, really….I know too many people who have been hurt on both sides of the dilemma. I know people who have died from this virus, dear friends who lost loved ones. They are angry their loved ones didn’t do more to protect themselves. Just angry. Grieving.
We are ALL angry by now….I try to keep that in check, doing all the things, bringing in my own light….I’m angry at all of it, actually. I don’t know what is true and what is not. Round and round. I doubt everything. I’m extremely stressed.
All I can say is, over the course of my life, there have been many who have died from the flu virus - what we used to dread when I was a kid. Temperatures of 104, lying in bed for a week, coughing till our ribs cracked. Some years were worse than others. Most of us survived.
My parents dragged me to the Dr every fall for a “flu vaccine” from the time I was 6. I had NO say in the matter until I left home at 25. (I’m now 68.) After that, my profession (dental field) demanded I be vaccinated for a number of things….small pox, polio, tetanus, flu, Hepatitis B….you know, the CYA stuff. Except for the Hepatitis B in 1986, I’d had all the others. Before college, mom made me get measles and mumps vaccines too, as I never had either one - try as she might, to have my brother pass them to me. You were also not an adult at 18, the way you are now…..it was 21. Parents were still in charge. 😳
I do know that in my profession, masks worked very well at reducing our exposure to disease from patients who chose to come to us when they were sick - or about to be. I wore a mask at work, day in and day out, for 30 years. The kids loved to take a mask home so they could pretend dentist! There was no fear in this.
This was all a LONG time ago….I am old. Things were VERY different. There was very little science, no place like the internet to look stuff up, and people trusted their Dr’s. There was no CDC. Heck, no one even had insurance back then. Not till the 70’s sometime. Life was lived on a different plane.
Also, I was privileged and white, which we know makes a huge difference in who gets health care here in the US, and the quality of that care. In this country, systemic racism is a huge player. We don’t love our black/brown brothers and sisters the way we do those with light skin. Pity this, that our love is so limited.
Even alternative medicine - very expensive here in the States.
When I switched to mostly alternative medicine about 15 years ago, my friends back home thought I was really really odd. When I changed my diet to manage my gut issues - a few criticized me - “you won’t be socially acceptable” they said. Because I can’t eat gluten or dairy??? Really?
I discontinued getting vaccines in 2003. Now that I’m old, I’m told I need Shingles vaccine, and 2 kinds of pneumonia vaccines. I have refused. I was in and out of my mother’s and my brother’s nursing homes for 15 years, and never got shingles or pneumonia. Neither did my brother. 🤷🏼♀️
I’ve read about the Joe Rogan issue. My beef with him is his disrespect for women and persons of color. While he is entitled to his opinions about that, however, I find both offensive to me personally. And I have boundaries about them.
On the vaccine stuff, it is just blah, blah, blah…nothing I haven’t already heard.
I have spent a lot of time with alternative medicine folks….so I understand vaccine risks. As I said, I know people I love who have been vaccinated, and some who have not. Some have gotten sick with Covid, some have not. A few who were very compromised with their general health, died from Covid. Some recovered. Some with vaccines get sick anyway (just like with my flu shots long ago), some don’t. Oh and yeah, most of the kids in my elementary school didn’t get flu shots, by the way - $$$$. They were no more sick, any more often than I was. Just saying.
It is obvious to me that there are other factors with this virus which determine who gets sick and who does not. Factors that have been overlooked by science at this point. Or, more likely, are not yet discoverable by the means we have. Some days it is one big f-ing experiment.
I’m on and off with vaccines in general. Have they saved lives? Sure - with small pox and polio decidedly so. In college, I had a friend in an iron lung machine from polio. She died at age 40. What I do see, and distrust, is that we will enter another “vaccine tunnel” - just like with flu - you need a vaccine every year for this stuff. I am very unsure I’m willing to go there at this point. There is so much unknown….and THAT is what I find frightening. We don’t know what we don’t know.
It isn’t political for me. Just many unanswered questions. And who is profiting from this in the end? It is all about $$$ somewhere along the line. I’m not a conspiracy theory person either….however, my gut senses that in the beginning, this virus was experimental, possibly for biological weapons, and there was an “accident” - or not. Perhaps it is a blessing that only a few million have died and not the entire planet…..I don’t know. I don’t say that lightly. It is suffering. We are all suffering in ways too numerous to count.
So just some random thoughts from and old woman.
Peace to all,
Martie
Abby, I was honored to learn my letter inspired this beautiful meditation. I love how you arc from enjoyment to dejection to cynicism to anger to introspection and ultimately to courageous hope. That last paragraph gave me goosebumps.