Don’t Lose HOPE

There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster. – Dalai Lama

Think back to where you were a year ago when you heard the WHO had declared Covid-19 a pandemic. What changes did you make to your life to prepare? And how many adaptations are you still doing? I have been trying to keep informed about this virus since January. My wife’s family faced a series of stricter enforcement. We watched in horror back in March of 2020 when the infection rate reached over a thousand a few days less than a year ago. On February 27^th our idiot former president promised, “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” And he, and all his supporters continued to lie as the number skyrocketed. Because they lied so thoroughly, we may never know the actual numbers of dead and infected.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. – Winston Churchill

America’s awful death toll has exceeded the total of deaths from World War Two, Korea and Vietnam combined. Think of that horrifying fact. In Washington DC, and around the US, there are monuments to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Will there be monuments to all those died or who have had there bodies ravaged by this disease? Maybe there will be. But we all are the monument to the courage and determination required to overcome a monstrous global enemy that has attacked all continents and all nations. I’m sorry to say however, this will probably be just the first such wide ranging pandemic in the modern era.

It’s going to be alright honey. – My mom (said to me a thousand times)

But we all must not lose hope. For hope is the most potent weapon we have had this past year. We all continue to adapt. Our lives have mutated into some abnormal. People ask when can we get back to “normal”. The answer to that is never. The pre-covid-19 “normal world” does not exist. Just as I can’t return to the “normal world” of my childhood, society has been changed forever. We all can find solace in the fact that it is individuals who have turned the tide in this pandemic. You and I, and billions like us, had to leave behind our normal lives in order to survive. Memories of our past normal lives are our monuments.

A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live. – Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching

I just heard President Biden make the pledge that all adult Americans will be eligible to be vaccinated starting May 1. Oh I pray this is true. I consider myself fortunate to have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week. In this national patchwork of state requirements I am lucky. I am not ashamed to say I cried a little when I was notified. And when I went to the clinic with all my paperwork, I sat reverently as if I was in church. Afraid that this opportunity could somehow be taken away, I did not believe it until I was sitting in the parking lot afterwards. Tears of joy, tears of hope, nerve-wracking worry all hit me at once. There was finally proof in my veins, and not just hope in my heart, that I would survive and be able to return to a less restricted world. That same day over a million Americans were vaccinated for the first time. Now that is a sign of hope.

I have not had a vaccination since my freshman year in high school – no flu shot, nothing. I don’t understand all the high tech research that went into these miracle of science. But I could feel it beginning to do its job after a few hours. My body responded as it was supposed to within twelve hours and about 48 hours after the injection, as predicted, I started to feel better. I never felt all that bad, similar to a flu with a few odd symptoms. I must now wait three weeks to get the second dose and two weeks after that I can start to rebuild my new normal life. The daily infection level is just now reaching what it was five months ago back in the middle of October. At the start of 2021, the daily infection rate was five times what it is now. Please, I beg you, if and when you have the opportunity to receive a vaccination – take it. We must defeat this common enemy that has taken so much from us all. 119,000,000 sick; 2,630,000 dead and 67,000,000 recovered. Be vigilant and remain hopeful.

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in it!

William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”