Just a thought… For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible. [Stuart Chase]
You can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.
Hey – Happy First Full Day of Spring: a time of hope, of reawakening and of coming out of hibernation. Well, that’s where the “hope” part comes in, isn’t it?
Full disclosure: I’ve been feeling under the weather for the past week as my body adjusts to my surgery on the 10th. Luckily, I booked last week off from any work and was able to just chill. This week ramps up a bit. I’m okay, of course; I keep my problems in perspective, given what’s happening to our sisters and brothers in (and who’ve fled) Ukraine. I may have fewer filters today is all.
Last Friday, Rob, our daughter-in-law Brooke and I went to a big grocery store, and noticed about half (or more) did not choose to wear their masks. Now, this store was in a densely populated city near Victoria called Langford, and it’s a far cry from the small spot we live near and shop at called Sidney. There, a large portion of the residents are seniors. And in the grocery stores a few days before our big city outing, Rob saw easily three-quarters of people choosing to wear their masks.
Moving from the oldest to our youngest citizens, March Break has just begun here. In Ontario, school is back today and the “to mask or not to mask” debate is a fiery one. I’m not going to get into it here; you know where you stand and nothing I or anyone else can say is going to change any minds at this point.
The other day I got an impassioned email from a woman who used to listen to me on the radio for years and had just found me again, imploring me to help her explain to her family why she’s right in believing in her “natural immunity.” She lamented that she’s lost friends and family connections.
I gave it a lot of thought, read it a few times over and then had nothing to say to her in response. No words. (And you know me – that’s unusual.) She’s seen the stakes and is still trying to rally people – even a virtual stranger like me – to her side. And honestly, why would I waste my time trying to change even one mind anymore? It’s not possible. I’m not an infectious disease expert; I haven’t spent my life studying viruses or the treatment of them. People believe what they want to believe, and it’s not worth getting that inevitable “I’m disappointed in you” (or worse) in response. So – and this is rare for me – I just hit delete.
I learned my lesson after a woman wrote to me two weeks ago to say she didn’t want anything in my journals that wasn’t positive and that I was surely losing readers. I went to respond to her with actual numbers, and – surprise, surprise – it came back “undeliverable.” The person who wrote it had given me a fake email address. So again, not worth my time.
We are all going through a LOT. Every single one of us. It’s up to us how we’re going to protect ourselves and that goes beyond the masking and other decisions that it seems have been passed across the table and into our laps.
The first thing to do is to give up being a keyboard warrior: stop trying to change minds that have been filled with “facts” that originated from unknown IP addresses and then spread like wildfire…or a virus. Covid isn’t done with us, no matter how much we want it to be. Being on guard is exhausting when every fibre of your being wants so much for it to be over and to throw off the masks like the overcoats and salty boots of winter. But just because the calendar says it’s spring, do we do that? No. Because we know better and we have learned from past experience.
My friend, take care of yourself. Just be careful. And don’t bother engaging. ‘Cause deleting can be good for your health, too. Stay safe, stay sane and I’ll be back with you here on Thursday.