For ALL Of Us; Love your Neighbor, COVER YOUR FACE

                          Brian and me, Vaccinated AND Masked. #LOVEYOURNEIGHBOR

Among another sad story that is not mine to share, COVID hit close to home this week. While that story is not mine to tell, I CAN  tell you how this superspreading has affected me-- without making neither Brian nor me sick. 

 I'm angry. No-- I am PISSED OFF. 

We had to return to mask-wearing -- NOT because " the government told us to do it-- but because we love & care for the children and vulnerable , vaccinated adults in our lives. We don't mask because we think vaccines are ineffective. As a matter of fact, we know vaccinated people-- several-- who came down with ' breakthrough" cases of COVID that were much milder. I mask up when I go visit a sick loved one because I know that any germ--- not just COVID-- that would merely annoy me could  end her life.  

" The Government" did not force us to return to masking and physical distancing. No-- it is all the " patriots" { sic} who refuse the free- painless safe series of shots wo are holding our country in a deadly, depressing holding pattern. 

  We vaccinated folks cannot safely go to the emergency room, since hospitals are literally overrun with sick COVID patients who refused to take the vaccine. 

  Recently I finished reading Vice-President Kamala Harris' book, One of the quotes from her book _The Truths We Hold_ came at the end of her story. 

  "For all our differences, for all our battles, for all our fights we are all one American family, and we should act like it." ~Madame Vice President Kamala D. Harris

  I know many people who do not like Madame Vice President-- and that IS your choice. However, it is NOT your " choice" to put your political views ahead of public safety for all--- especially since getting the vaccines and wearing masks when asked to is so damn easy. 

 " Masks are uncomfortable" Trust me, I need eyeglasses to see{ contact lenses are not an option} and every time I walk out into the Florida humidity and put on a cloth mask, the glasses fog. But I wait until I am safely inside and then de-fog the glasses. Brian and I find comfortable masks that fit not-too-snugly around our noses and mouth and that have nose clips that keep the mask in place. 

  Even vaccinated people run a chance of either catching or carrying COVID-- and its our PATRIOTIC DUTY to keep ourselves and our human siblings safe. COVID is real. Masks and vaccines are not yet perfect-- but science evolves. I agree that the government should not need to make laws to keep us safe from each other putting their " rights" above saving lives of innocent people-- including CHILDREN. We don't live in the Utopia that God wants for us, where we look at every person we see as a sibling-- another of God's Beloveds. 

 I am weary and angry about continuing to need to protect people from COVID. But I willingly do it. I try to make the best of a lousy necessity of masking by carrying around a collection of cute, comfortable " facial accessories" but I so want to see smiles of people I love again. But what I want right now is not important. 

  Again "...we are all one American family, and we should act like it." ~Madame Vice President Kamala D. Harris.

Mask Up. Get the shots. Care about others. 

~Sarah McCarren

24 August 2021