OK I am not trying to be political here. But I get something off my chest. This by no means is new. I have seen numerous quotes, opinion pieces, not to mention just plain news about how out rights are being usurped by the current mandates designed to abate the transmission of the Coronavirus (COVID 19).
I am just going to say it. I support any and all means to designed to inhibit the transmission and confine the those who have been exposed and possibly carrying COVID 19.
There I said it. It is not ambiguous or confusing. I have a disclaimer though. In March of 2020 when we were all told to go home that the state of California was on lock down I totally disagreed with that move. I thought it was an overreaction to this flu. So it was the super flu. But anyone with a normal immune system, in my mind, meant most of us, could fight off this seasonal flu no problem.
I am here to say that I was totally WRONG. I have not been brainwashed by the democrats who are socialists in disguise. If that were true I be shocked to find out I am a socialist since I do identify as a democrat.
But seriously, I was terribly wrong. I have known people who have had this disease. They ranged in age and in severity. I am grateful I have not contracted this disease. It was everywhere from hardly affecting family and work to nearly a death sentence and on the spectrum in between.
The question really is requiring someone to get a vaccination is it a violation of our right to choose? A violation of our right to get a vaccination or not to get a vaccination. Yes, everyone has the right to make that choice - or do they? At what point is a requirement to come back to work only if you are vaccinated is an overreach? I am not a learned council on constitution law or any other kind of law. But I can address this from my personal point of view.
I believe in the right to make your own choices in life and how to live your own life. Freedom of choice is inbred in us Americans like we are to like Apple Pie. But too much of our rhetoric today is about what we are guaranteed by the Constitution and like our politics is all one sided. What happened to common decency? I believe that we lose our right to make choices when we endanger others by that choice. In this case when someone invokes their right to not get vaccinated and is therefore in a heightened chance of contracting and disseminating a proven lethal disease they are then no longer free to make that choice. They are making a decision for others by leaving themselves open to this disease and by interacting in some way with others without any protection they are taking the choice to be healthy from others.
By not protecting themselves and being around others who may or may not have been vaccinated they are then saying they care less about their fellow man than they do about themselves. That is very selfish. I understand their may be misgivings on the safety of the vaccine for themselves both now in the future. I get that. But if you weigh what nearly every medical scientist has stated that it is generally safe and there are protocols in place if someone has an adverse reaction, and that person still says no to vaccination then that individual is short sighted and selfish. They by definition need to isolated so they cannot hurt others.
We are a social group, we humans. We need each other for a variety of reasons. So you give up the luxury of making a choice when we interact with each other. There are certain requirements that necessitate the dismissal of certain rights. It's not something we can put on paper or legislate. This is a about, well, sportsmanship as they would say in the sporting world. It's about thinking of someone else before yourself. It's about feeling more for your fellow man/woman then you do for yourself. We Americans were at one time the epitome of that understanding. Where has that gone? Are we so individualistic that we can't come together for a common societal good? I still believe that we can do this. I believe we just need to be reminded of what sacrifice is and what it looks like. There are a great many folks out there that have done exactly this. Made a sacrifice. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice. I ask you, the reader, to ask yourself where are you on that continuum?
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