@dannyboy I can't see the mask restrictions being lifted as scheduled in September, not with all the upticks in Covid cases going on. I have flown once this summer and will again next week to help my daughter drive back home from her summer job out of state. If the mandate were lifted now I not be flying. Period. Not now.
@lovendures Fair! I’m not seeking out travel, but this was a trip for an independent contracting gig that netted me a much needed cash infusion :-) My next “flight” isn’t technically scheduled to happen until November and I’m not above potentially driving out there.
As for the anti-vaxxers, it is hard to feel compassion for people who are actively threatening the safety and health of our loved ones. Once again, we are being held hostage by the most selfish and stupid people on the planet. There are billions of folks all over the world who would love the opportunity to get the vaccine, and then we have all of these Americans who just turn up their smug little noses at it.
Here is what an Italian jounalist had to say about it (this statement had been falsely attributed to French president Macron, and it is too bad that he didn't say it):
“I no longer have any intention of sacrificing my life, my time, my freedom and the adolescence of my daughters, as well as their right to study properly, for those who refuse to be vaccinated. This time you stay at home, not us,”
I so agree with you and I want to add that the anger some of us feel towards the anti-vaxers is something I've felt towards the Republicans since I knew in the 1990's that climate change denial was going to bring us all down. It was a rough awakening to realize how people in a literate society with free education can be ignorant fools.
Then I had to manage my feelings because the anger was eating me up, the painful feeling that their ignorance was taking the rest of us down.
I no longer discuss politics with Republicans any more than I would discuss cult beliefs with a cult member. I choose to work around them during elections by helping get out the vote. I will never go door to door to reason with them. They live in a cult reality.
I now deal with my feelings about ignorant people who are bringing us all down in this way: After a brief feeling of annoyance when I see them maskless at my health club or in the supermarket, I focus on being in my body, being present, and I surround myself with space, and see all the noise of people way above me and around me, while I stay present with myself. In my mind, I push them away from me.
I realize they are just part of the complex and flawed world out there, like everything out there. They are part of the human race with their foolishness and issues. In other words, I accept that humans have these shortcomings. Each has their reasons, complex beyond my desire to discover.
Then I feel gratitude that I see truth, at least as best as I can. I am grateful to all of you who are also awake, at least as best as we can be. Then finally, I strive to be more awake every day.
I also have to hope that I and my family don't get Covid.
@jeanne-mayell Minutes ago, I had to delete an older adult woman’s FB response to a very immature young woman cousin of mine. The adult posted “STFU” which does nothing to promote understanding or healing. This older adult woman is a very staunch progressive/Dem activist and is in the trenches to implement change regularly. For that I say Brava! The young woman recently returned to her estranged family after dropping out of hs, having a baby, and cutting off her close-knit family.
We never know the circumstances that enable people to become part of an ignorant cult that denies death and disease. Truth delivered w kindness and temperance was my response. I don’t choose to enter into a raging debate about vaccines and variants w anyone… family or otherwise.
I realize they are just part of the complex and flawed world out there, like everything out there. They are part of the human race with their foolishness and issues. In other words, I accept that humans have these shortcomings Each has their reasons, complex beyond my desire to discover.
This is basically how I feel. But because we’re in the middle of a cosmological shift in energies, the world is even more complex and we are even more likely to lose our minds.
People are intuitively picking up on the fact that many of globalized society’s mythic stories don’t function anymore, and that’s disorienting. So the most ungrounded individuals will cling to whatever bizarre worldview is thrown at them online as they try to reorient themselves. That’s why conspiracy theories get so much traction now.
From an evolutionary standpoint, this discord is to be expected and (who knows?) may even be be necessary as we replace outmoded stories of being with narratives that actually work. That’s why I’m not angry at people who refuse vaccinations for specious reasons. Rather, I feel compassion for them and how disoriented they are.
I reserve more antipathy for the ones who make money off of spreading disinformation online. There was a front page article in the New York Times today about a doctor in Florida who does this. Basically, he and people like him sow these doubts about vaccines through a constellation of related social media pages, usually towards the end of peddling dubious health products. In the process, they become superspreaders of misinformation.
But even when it comes to these more prominent figures, my anger eventually dissipates to compassion about what led these people to poison themselves in such a manner. I also still have to be humble and accept that I don’t know everything that’s happening on a spiritual level. Maybe their actions are playing an inexplicable role in humanity’s infinitely complex evolutionary process.
@Coyote. I was REALLY disappointed to hear Dr Mercola spewing anti vaccine misinformation about the Covid vaccine. I believe one of my favorite wholistic veterinary practitioners, Dr Karen Becker is associated with Mercola. I unsubscribed from the email list yesterday and listed his nonsense as why I was unsubscribing
@tybin Here is the title summary of Dr. Mercola's wikipedia page: It reads: American alternative health proponent and purveyor of anti-vaxination misinformation.
Would that I had your abilities for that level of compassion, @coyote. I don't, I'm afraid. I went beyond anger several months ago, passed through actual antipathy, and finally reached the nirvana of apathy about them. The same information I have had and have used to protect myself as best I can is also readily available to them. If they choose to remain intentionally uninformed, that's their problem. In my view, the ones who maintain such attitudes and remain willfully ignorant in the face of the facts deserve what they get. I'll bid them good riddance, and I'll do everything in my power to ensure that they don't take me with them.
@ana, i am late to this, but i just wanted to say how sorry i am about your brother. This must be very hard on you and your mother. You might consider getting some N-95 masks for the plane ride, as they are more effective than the other types (but harder to breathe thru).
As for the anti-vaxxers, it is hard to feel compassion for people who are actively threatening the safety and health of our loved ones. Once again, we are being held hostage by the most selfish and stupid people on the planet. There are billions of folks all over the world who would love the opportunity to get the vaccine, and then we have all of these Americans who just turn up their smug little noses at it.
Here is what an Italian jounalist had to say about it (this statement had been falsely attributed to French president Macron, and it is too bad that he didn't say it):
“I no longer have any intention of sacrificing my life, my time, my freedom and the adolescence of my daughters, as well as their right to study properly, for those who refuse to be vaccinated. This time you stay at home, not us,”
Thank you. We do have N-95 masks and we're all going to wear them on the plane.
I wish we *could* make the unvaxed stay home! Imagine the outrage. But immature-minded people do not understand that when they choose the behavior, they choose the consequences. (as Dr. Phil likes to say)
I will say (I flew Delta though don’t know about the other airlines) that when I went to Kentucky a few weeks back, the airlines on both the flight down and back did a fantastic job. When you get to the airport find a spot away from the crowds (even if that means waiting by a different gate) and feel free to request more of those purell hand wipes they pass out. Flight crew and passengers were required to remain masked throughout the flight.
Thanks @dannyboy . It so happens that we will be flying on Delta (bet they hate that the bad COVID variant ended up being the fourth one, hence "Delta".) The airport in our town only has three gates so staying isolated there will be easy. But we're flying into a huge regional hub and that is more of a concern. One thing I think would help on the plane is to turn the air vents on "high". All the cabin air is supposed to be HEPA-filtered so perhaps that would make sure she is getting freshly filtered air (?)