Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The times we live in

 


We got our vaccines awhile ago and I felt like crying with gratitude with the first one. We are looking forward to being with friends, traveling and mostly just knowing that the bad dream that was 2020 is ending and everyone can, literally, breathe easier. Maybe. I thought everyone was eagerly awaiting the vaccine, but now that it’s here, that doesn’t seem to be universally true. It surprises me, but I guess it shouldn’t. I got into a little dispute with a family member a few days ago and it still has me shaking my head. “We need to respect all opinions about the vaccine,” she said, clearly in defense of her own decision not to be vaccinated. I agreed that I respect her right to an opinion, but I feel no obligation to respect that opinion, if it seems uninformed and selfish. I think the word “selfish” got to her. She unfriended me. I guess she didn’t respect my opinion. Oh well. 

I know I’m opinionated and maybe have too much to say sometimes, but, as Albert Einstein said, “Silence is complicity.” In my opinion, now is not a good time to be complicit, in this case, to lending support to the enemy (the virus) by agreeing that it’s fine to assist it in flourishing and evolving in new and even more dangerous ways and assuring that this AWFUL, STUPID, HORRIBLE, DEADLY PANDEMIC NEVER ENDS!  And that is how I feel about that! OK, glad I got that off my chest. Sorry if I alarmed you. 

So we, and all but the youngest in our immediate family, are vaccinated and feeling a degree of true freedom. Summer seems like a shiny prize waiting just over the horizon, after a year spent indoors. Yesterday I scouted outdoor locations for a July meeting of our local art quilt group after more than a year of Zooming. I am envisioning all of us, in lawn chairs, visiting and sharing our current projects in some lovely spot. Maybe this one...?




I mentioned, awhile back, how much I enjoyed the presentation by Austin Kleon that was part of our SAQA conference so I ordered his book. 


It is a small book, quick to read and filled with the kind of things we all should know, but maybe don’t, or maybe need to be reminded of. I loved it, then I laughed out loud when I got to this page, near the end.


Are you talking to me?  

OK, then.  I’m leaving the internet and going to the studio...




5 comments:

  1. I got to meet with SAQA (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming chapter) members in Colorado Springs today! In person! The art was amazing, but seeing and meeting people was more so. It was so great to meet face to face, all vaccinated, outdoors at a lovely regional park. All brought their own lunch, chairs and art pieces. We sat in the parking lot and had a wonderful time. I felt truly blessed.

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  2. That looks like a lovely park.

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  3. I guess I'm getting old, but I have less and less tolerance of the kind of willful ignorance and selfishness of these new antivaxxers. And no, there's quite a few opinions that do not deserve any respect at all. People can have them all day long, but I don't have to respect them or their opinion. The Orange administration and the pandemic have taught me that there are people who I have no need to associate with. And, helpfully, they announce themselves with their ignorance, racism, sexism and selfishness.

    Love that quote at the end of the book. 😂 There should also be one "get off social media and go make something!" I'm on Facebook far too much.

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  4. I totally agree with your "opinion". I live in Georgia, only 29% of the population has been vaccinated and in my county, just south of Atlanta, only 22%. I'll be wearing my mask for a very long time, even though I am fully vaccinated.

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  5. I think the one that stung the most when I was talking with people here in somewhat rural Texas was that "selfish" word. These are people that pride themselves on being good Christians, in the best sense of that word, and pointing out that failing to wear a mask to protect our large elderly population and to vaccinate were selfish behaviors did stir up a bit of motivation amidst the denial. In my quilting group, where I'm the youngest at 46, vaccination rates are high and I suspect that it's similarly the oldest folks getting vaccinated in most red states, regardless of their political leaning.

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