Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Post-COVID

We are both back on track, post-COVID, still fielding "recommendations" from well-meaning family and friends to get the jab-jab. No thanks. I don't mind putting a mask on if it makes people feel "safe" around me, but I draw the line at being a volunteer guinea pig for Big Pharma. If one more person says "But, you can't argue with science!" as their rationalization for taking what (in my mind) amounts to experimental drugs, I may have to be restrained...

Not choosing to take the vaccine does not mean someone doesn't love or care for family and friends - or society in general. It does not make one a bioterrorist. Enough with the generalizing - accusing Christians of being selfish and unloving because they put their trust in God. There are two (or more) sides to every story - yet the media and government tend to share only one version. Getting the shot may have the appearance of slowing down the spread... but who knows if the long-term effects will outweigh the danger of contracting a virus with a 1.6% mortality rate? More than one scientist or doctor has decried calling a "vaccine" that which is not a true vaccine. No one can in all honesty predict the long-term effects.

As to the effectiveness and durability of the shots, it has been pointed out that Israel had a near universal vaccination initiative back from December 2020 through February 2021 and have now found the Pfiezer vaccine's effectiveness drops from 94% to less than 20% after 6 months. Just about everyone knows someone who has come down with COVID after being exposed by a vaccinated person. It's not exactly an uncommon occurrence.

No, I am not a conspiracy theorist. I don't believe getting the shot inserts a microchip for government surveillance... nor do I believe it makes one "magnetic." I don't believe it re-writes our DNA or causes infertility. I do believe that there are real, legitimate concerns about the effectiveness and safety of the shots, and those increase substantially for people with autoimmune and other underlying conditions.

Do you ever feel like you're just wasting your breath? Some of the vile rhetoric that pops up on social media is discouraging, sometimes it's downright appalling. It's okay if people don't agree with me, but it's hard to have respect when I am being called a "dumb-ass"... well, maybe I am, but maybe I'm not. Time will tell.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Kiss Your Mother

I miss my mom. She left us during the winter holiday season of 2014, which did make for a nice family reunion right after Christmas as we gathered from all over for her memorial, but nevertheless... she is still gone.

Since that time, I have on rare occasions had the opportunity to "visit" with her by way of dreams. Most of the time, I have the awareness that she ought to be dead, and therefore not with me. But, fearing that if I mention it she might be gone, I keep it to myself while enjoying our time together, chatting about everything important, unimportant, and in-between.

Not so last night. In that dream, I was busy at my desk trying to process paperwork - or whatever nonsense it is that I waste my time at when at work - with Mom hovering at my side, waiting for an opportune moment to spend a few minutes with me. In the midst of my frustration, I said to her [still in my dream], "Did you need me? I've got to get these papers out." So, ever the considerate person that she always was, she left.

When I woke up, I cried. 

I cried again as I thought about all of the times when I could have - but did not - call her, write her, spend time with her when I was in town visiting all my "friends" from high school [most of whom I can't even remember their names, now.] 

Unlike some friends of mine, my own mother and I were never estranged. We were rarely ever at odds, owing in great part to Mom's gift of mercy and kindness and hospitality... etc. (Too many to list!) She just cared about people. It showed in the things she did, the things she said, the way she treated others. (Don't get me wrong, in private she occasionally had a few comments or opinions, but I cannot recall her ever speaking unkindly to anyone.)

I suppose it hit me harder than it might have otherwise, due to the comparison with my own daughters. I am now on the other end of that Mother-Daughter relationship and can now understand all the feels that go with wanting to spend time with daughters whose lives are spinning in so many directions with their children, jobs, relationships, hobbies, that - without meaning to - leaves Mom low on the To-Do list. Undoubtedly because, no matter how neglected a mom ever feels, she is going to love you anyway, forgive you always, be thankful for the time shared.

That is why I say, KISS YOUR MOM. She needs it. And inevitably, one day, it will be too late.

On vacation in Scotland