COVID's Still Here Because "All Lives Matter" is a Lie

[MyMission]

18. "...if we become indifferent to their suffering, we become them."

Absolutely agree, and thanks for sharing. I was just thinking something along those lines.
Yet another challenge as we (collectively) are exhausted, and many are feeling the loss of compassion, empathy, patience and gratitude; a hardening of our hearts.

It's a pandemic, not a war. (It should be a war against the pandemic.) It won't just disappear, and can't be conquered in an instant. The world, and our country are full of many different "types" of people. Aside from getting everyone vaccinated and using precautions until then, we've got to be diligent to not become polarized, because that erodes our psyche and society, in my opinion.

I don't believe in the devil, per se, but there are dark forces that seize every opportunity to sow chaos and division to gain power and leverage. (Think GOP, for example) Good/bad, democrat/republican, blue/red, us/them, vaxed/unvaxed (which includes children under 12), black/white, and so on. I have to stop myself from thinking along those lines too much, falling prey to feelings of blame and anger. They do come, but I've got this community to vent and find others who are having those moments.

We've had 18 months with no end in sight, although many fell into the trap of believing it would be over once the vaccine was available. Vaccines always take time/years to circulate and become maximally effective against a pandemic, especially with mutations. We all need to "embrace" a new normal of precautions with consideration for others. Not all will, but eventually enough shall.
We the vaccinated have more protection against severe illness. That's a blessing, at least.
It's important to count our blessings.

I just turned 60, don't have kids or a spouse, or living parents so I don't have the worry or concerns many have, of their loved ones being exposed. I do have a friend with a young child who started homeschooling late 2019, pre-covid and they're doing great. A close cousin had covid twice; February 2020, and July 2021, hospitalized both times, mild COPD got worse and she was immunocompromised from first bought. She's making plans to get out of Florida, moving closer to me which I look forward to. Glad your neighbors and your cat are doing well.

I've worked part-time retail for 15 years in an old democratic family run store, and have continued to wear a mask as has one boss. The other boss and several coworkers stopped for a while but resumed when the CDC recommended it. We're all vaccinated, but our red NC county vax rate is just above 50%. The town is holding their annual labor day festival this year, 4 days of huge crowds, main street closed for 10 blocks. I work extra days for this. Folks exposed on Friday will be spreading it by Sunday, both vaxed and unvaxed. Not looking forward to it, because we know the bulk of the attendees are not of the cautious variety (to put it delicately).

I'm going to ask my bosses about putting the masks required sign back on the door, if it's not up on Tuesday when I'm back. They were talking about it, so they probably will.