There’s absolutely no research or detailed, knowledgable expertise to be found here. Just a preface everything written.
This is an opinion and solely my opinion.
The exciting news is, that I can solve the whole Vac*******d versus non-Vac*******d and everyone will be happy.
There’s a large issue, and it’s taking over my social media feed, news, and various other websites. Both parties despise each other and I completely understand why. The thing is, they don’t have to.
To start I will say, I appreciate and understand where the animosity is coming from. The feelings are valid. Both sides are absolutely fed-up with each other and do not understand how the other came to their conclusion. The other great news is, you don’t have to get it. You don’t have to talk either side down from the ledge or rather hill they would like to valiantly die on.
You’re mad, and that’s okay, I will never take that away from you.
The unfortunate news, is something I’ve been holding my tongue, but gah, need to say it. Even the most extreme from either side, are pretty much the same. As similar as a non-soda drinker trying to differentiate between Pepsi and Coke. You can crucify me for either of the above statements, but honestly, I will never know the difference if you swapped one for the other.
Hear me out. There’s an important commonality. Neither wants to get sick or be hospitalized. Even the deniers that the panorama exist, still, probably doesn’t want to get sick and find out. Both have similar fears. Most importantly we all, globally have had an unprecedented almost two years, and things don’t seem to have an end in sight. We’ve all missed birthdays, holidays, families, friends, our favourite places to go to, the list goes on. No one has come out of this unscathed, and if you possibly have, more power to you.
Fears are high. Each side thinks the other is careless, living the good life and not filled with the same level of anxiety as the other. We’re all dealing with a lot of questions.
The main difference is the way to go about solving it. This is in a pressure cooker, because the clock is ticking and moments keep passing us. That’s still okay. From the onset knowing how scientist still disagree on some fundamentals, and hearing about how all these companies, scientist and medical professionals were going to work together for one cause, I had a sneaking suspicion there would be disagreements along the way. I was ready to welcome it. There’s more than one way to skin a cat right? The issue is that in this context, there’s very little room to debate, the correct solution has a lot riding on it.
Take one big deep breath
When we realize we all have something very much in common. We’d like to see an end in sight. There’s got to be a solution that addresses all our fears and gets us out of this nightmare. Sounds crazy, I know, but maybe not making the others who don’t yet agree with one solution, also have their fears addressed, we can tackle it all, together.
When I talk about things with those around me, one on one. It’s very different from the internet. 99.9% of people preface everything they state with their background, logic and reason, and no matter what they have to say, after the past 18 months, I respect it.
We don’t have to leave those in any chaos behind. Lets talk about who I see as the real wrench in this plan of moving forward in union.
From my personal opinion and my opinion only, all leadership has had flaws. No one expected to lead during a panini, that’s a very big ask. However there are some missteps that have created mountains out of mole hills.
Think about it though, it’s a go to, especially leading under stress. When medical professionals and scientist are left up to their own accord it’s different than when policies get involved. I can go to a doctor, get a second opinion, try a few things out, have it explained to me face to face. With nationwide policies, there’s an effort to have everything even more sanitized, simplified, and at the same time creates more confusion.
Look at election campaigns, man aren’t they tiresome. Only in a dream world would everyone state their case for leadership, and we’d look it over and make a decision. Most laws are shaky at best, causing law students to let me know, most of the law is interpretation, and an art form. It’s also impossible to have whole nations have a leader and all 100% agree and obtain full confidence in their decision, even with a united front. I blame most of this on the way politics has always been communicated. Their best bet is “you’re with us or against us” a la vote for me and I’ll set you free. They need an enemy, and very different from a political opponent is a medical issue. I know we say “lets fight cancer” but it’s not a battle that we’d want our politicians to actually tackle with their type of power.
Things have been communicated by politicians, so it’s too late to no longer make it political.
My big issues
I’ve seen us focus on those who live like us, and have the same needs as us, then wonder why it’s not the go to for everyone else. There’s been some big missteps in my opinion.
Curfews were a great example. The virus didn’t come out at a certain time at night, never have, never will. The politicians went with it, as the goal was to avoid congregation of people throughout the day. This also assumed, we are all middle class working from home, from 9am-5pm, and have some time before it was too late to go out and get what we needed. I immediately thought about homeless people, which the fans of this measure weren’t happy about this being questioned. Sure enough, after a review, allowances for the homeless we totally forgot about were made, but not after an unfortunate death was publicized. Those who work overnight, or early mornings before sunrise were an after thought, just get an official document and you’re good. I still scratched my head, as many have not gone grocery shopping at midnight from supermarkets open until 1am, spoiler there’s usually no one and the best way to avoid contact. I’m sure there’s still some rhyme or reason that made sense, but it didn’t equate to all the diverse lifestyles that it fell under. I had a lot of projects to complete, night classes and was rarely able to get out in time, but it was manageable.
Limiting what could be bought at stores. I get it, if it’s not available for purchase, less people would frequent the stores that were open right? In reality, it didn’t make sense. More people would frequent the limited available stores, and once you’re there, if the store carry what is deemed as essential, why would you not be able to purchase a birthday card have anything to do with a virus transmission. Also we were selecting what was and wasn’t essential. I’m no sociologist, and not even a well versed person in most fields, but I’m aware enough to know what is essential to me, is not what is essential to you. I’m not speaking on preferences, I’m speaking on household needs. Our narrow lens makes it hard to envision or anticipate this. Those with children, those with older people, larger households, those without any dependants, it’s a big task to say, what is it that everyone needs to just get by. We have different jobs, roles in our households, and in short needs.
What if we got rid of the narrow lens and really decided that getting out of this, not just for most, or those who mirror myself in a society, but globally, all together.
If we realize we do have the same fears, no one is vying to be the next statistic. If we shift focus on, how do we get out of this? You don’t want this solution at hand, well let’s recap to see how else we can get out of this? Time is ticking, this is what we have so far, how can we best implement this that works for you, your needs, and addresses your fears. You have fears, so what are they, what does that look like?
We’re not getting out of this all together, if we use a focused lens only on what we see as with us. It’s all connected unfortunate for some. We need to bring those “others” along, or it’ll never end. Most importantly, shit’s getting real and I know it’s horrid to make light of very serious subjects, but please take everything I say as another uninformed opinion.
Most importantly, I already know what you’re thinking:
