Here We Go Again
I’m not doing this again. The masks. The shutdowns. The remote learning. The vaccinations. I’m not doing it.
After a long Army career, I retired with three full pages of vaccinations and immunizations on my record. Fifty-four total entries in my “shot record”. Many of them, necessary for all the places the Army sent me, or was prepared to send me. Some of them were flu shots or inhalants. I even received the entire Anthrax panel, plus two additional shots because the Army medical system isn’t always the best at keeping things up to date when you travel.
After all that, I decided to take the first vaccine for COVID-19. I had both doses administered by the VA Hospital that I go to for my normal healthcare. I mean, why not? I had so much other crap pumped into my body while I was in uniform, how much more could it do?
As I watched the country go through the COVID fiasco (yes, it was a fiasco), I kept my eyes and ears open. I watched as a business manager responsible for revenue generation, providing essential services to homes and businesses, and taking care of my people and their families. I watched as a father with a child in high school and another in college while classes were cancelled, then moved to remote learning, as curriculum was modified and delivered in a less than desirable fashion. I watched as a son with two parents in their seventies, worried about the virus itself but also the impact on two people who normally kept socially active lives.
I watched as a consumer as some businesses were allowed to continue while others were shut down entirely. I watched as a voter while our government took away freedoms, imposed restrictions, and enforced edicts they had no real authority to do. I watched as a veteran who had dedicated his adult life to protect this Republic while it tried to destroy itself from the inside by enforcing laws on some populations while turning a blind eye to crimes being made by others.
I watched as medical officials argued what was right. Vaccines were untested. They didn’t go through the normal testing and vetting process. Medicines were argued to be good or bad, depending on which doctor you talked to. I heard the phrase “follow the science” when there was no real science to follow.
I decided, after seeing enough bullshit coming from every level of government, that I wasn’t going to get a single booster. And I didn’t. Not one. Did I get COVID? Yes…two years later after everyone said it was “safe” (ultimate irony). But, that was my choice and will continue to be my choice. I think there is a slogan in there somewhere.
I watched leaders and businessmen and government officials do what was best for them instead of what was best for the country. They didn’t wear masks except for public appearances. They attended and hosted parties, trying to hide that from the public. They traveled inside and outside the country on private jets. They held “normal” lives while the rest of us were being kept inside. You may have forgotten all that, but I haven’t.
I said it over, and over, and over again. The measures being taken were about controlling the population and furthering powerbases, not about what was truly best for the country.
I still believe that. Go ahead and call me whatever you want. I don’t care. If you want to call me insensitive, or ignorant, or uniformed, or whatever…go ahead. I don’t give a shit. Save your breath.
But, I’m not doing this again. I’m not masking. I’m not vaxxing. I’m not social distancing. I’m just…not.
It’s coming though. If you can’t see it, you’re fooling yourself.
I’m saying it now….Here We Go Again.