Last week my co-worker died of COVID.
While the rest of us were stuffing our faces with turkey and hello salad, my co-worker lay dying in a hospital bed.
When I first heard the news I was mad.
How ironic: here we are talking about ending legalized abortion in the US because a minority of religious zealots think we should value “life” before viability, while at the same time a minority of morons (and yes, there’s some overlap) are lying to people about the risks to their life from COVID.
Why weren’t you vaccinated, my friend?
Why haven’t we done more to squash this virus?
Why do we keep letting these lying-ass motherfuckers deceive the world about COVID?
Why do these lying-ass motherfuckers get to have more say about our COVID response than the rest of us?
As angry as I was (and still am), I was able to get in touch with the underlying hurt.
It hurts knowing someone I knew and cared about is dead because they chose to believe a lie.
It hurts knowing those COVID liars suffer no consequences for all the damage they’ve done.
It cuts to the core to know I live in a world where money and influence are worth more than my life.
I took this photo of one of my rose bushes this morning. Most of the blooms are dying, but a few defiant blooms are still hanging on. When it comes to COVID, I feel like one of those hangers-on. How soon before I, too, will face my demise because of all these idiots?
I want to live in a world where I matter. I’m just not sure yet how to make that happen.
Got any ideas?
Dogpaddling Through Life 
It’s just mind-numbing we’re at this junction. Growing up in the 50’s & 60’s, no one failed to vaccinate against polio and yet today we have far too many who have turned (yet) another healthcare issue into a blue/red conflict (and don’t get me started on the systematic assault on abortion). And after the epidemic of 1917-18, you’d have thought we learned how to not make this panDamnic flourish. And yet here we are. My best friend who is a colon cancer survivor was recently diagnosed with a metastatic tumor on one of her lungs. She was scheduled for surgery but the procedure was cancelled because the hospital is full of unvaccinated COVID patients. WTH??
My heart hurts for your friend. May she receive the care she needs to live and thrive.
Thank you. It leaves a person feeling less than generous in human spirit. Fortunately a few later, she was able to get the life saving surgery but I can’t help but wonder if the delay has impacted her long term survival.
I understand that feeling.
So sad about your friend. I had my colonoscopy cancelled as well. I read that tens of thousands of people were diagnosed with cancer too late because of not being able to get proper and prompt health care. It’s so sad and terrifying. Prayers to your friend.
Thank you. Yes, it’s not only tragic, it borders on criminal. Luckily she was able to get her tumor removed, hopefully in time. If not, I can’t help but feel bitter, an emotion that’s never good for living.
I’m not really fond of people. So many do not seem to be able to think for themselves. A person I consider smart (or did) told me she was not getting the vaccine. I asked her why (there are a few legit reasons). She said she doesn’t like what’s in it. I was stunned. She teaches music in elementary school. I asked when she got her biology degree. I don’t know what’s in it but I don’t know what’s in the pneumonia or shingles vaccines I’ve gotten in the past few years. People don’t seem to know where to put their faith.
I guess they win and it really is every person for themselves.
I am so sorry for the loss of your friend Jen.
There are conflicting issues over vaccinations and boosters, some say you can have the flu jab and Covid booster at the same time and others say you have to wait at least a week between them. I held off for my booster until I’d checked with cancer research, the breast cancer nurses and my GP. My surgery was 2 years ago, but I was still anxious. We had our jabs last week, and I had no side effects whatsoever. Hubby had a headache and sore arm for a few days, but that was it.
IMO we can only do what we can to protect ourselves. We mask up when we go out to shop, sanitize often (I have bottles in my handbag and the car) and are avoiding people we don’t know, crowded places and socially distancing ourselves from just about everybody. I’m with Kate on not being fond of people just now. My SIL is due to visit from NZ early next year and plans to travel up and down the UK seeing her friends and family. I have asked her not to include us. There are too many variables and if our request is not well received, that’s fine and we wish her a happy holiday.
Our government are going through the motion of seeming to be doing something, but IMO, they are misreporting figures, misleading the public with confusing statement when they cannot agree amongst themselves, and not clamping down on this latest variant hard enough. Stable door and horse come immediately to mind.
Keep safe Jen.
Thank you. One of the things I’m most angry about is that if I had been forced to work in the office with her, she could have killed me too with her ignorance. I am grateful to have such a wonderful director who is doing the best he can to be supportive for all of us.
That’s wonderful.
Very sorry for the loss of your friend.
Thank you granny. It also hurts to know that my co-worker’s death will be minimized by the same people who minimize COVID. But she mattered.
I’m glad your angry – it means you’re paying attention. COVID is a health issue – not a political one, and yet here we are.
Oh I’m paying attention. And I celebrate every time one of those deniers die of COVID.
Oh Jen I am so sorry to read of your friend dying of Covid….Something that really upsets me up here in Canada is we are still in 4th wave & now they talk about Omicron (8th mutation) & OMG everyone panic; yet the borders are open & everyone is flying everywhere (well except to South Africa). The media is churning out TV ADS to go shop, shop, shopping in stores!! Get together with your family & friends!!! Party on down!!! Alot of my peeps & friends are utterly confused as to what the rules are??? I do to severe health issues/allergic reactions can not be vaccinated. For ANYTHING. So I live in Stage 1. I use Sanitizer; I mask up everywhere I go. I only go out for necessities. I have a bubble & I stay in it. If I so much as get a tickle in my throat, I stay home for 2 weeks. It is not always easy to stay in but I do not want to run the risk of catching Covid or G-D forbid being a carrier!!
Am I scared of getting Covid? You betcha!
Am I scared of being made so ill from vaccine I die? You betcha!
I applaud all who have gotten the vaccine.
I am not sure about where you live but I can tell you we have a good percentage of people partially or fully vaccinated who still caught Covid & many of them have been & are hospitalized all across Canada. What I think people forgot is that the vaccines can LESSEN ONE’S SYMPTOMS & HOPEFULLY PREVENT HOSPITALIZATION & DEATH.
However, the vaccines are NOT 100% effective & here we are hearing more & more reports that vaccine’s efficiency is on the wane….
All I can say is Covid will not die if rules are not adhered to. And people like myself need to stay home as much as possible….And Governments need to stop sending out mixed messages to society so that no one knows what is right or what is wrong!
Sherri-Ellen aka BellaSita Mum
Here statistics show that the people who are placed in ICU and/or die from COVID are almost always unvaccinated. There are those who cannot be vaccinated, but a big reason why this thing is the monster it is is because A) it wasn’t taken seriously from the start, and B) we have not put a greater emphasis on vaccinating the entire world. Mutations would be much less likely of the majority of the world’s population were vaccinated. So why aren’t they?
Amen Sister ! Your boss can’t require you to wear a mask or get a vaccination to protect yourself, your co-workers and customers, and even your own family, but the gummint (part of it anyway) can force a 12 year old who was raped by her father to carry the baby to term before she drops it oiff at a church.
Women are vessels. Corporations are people.
I am so sorry.
I am sorry about your friend Jen. I am sad that there are so many evil people out there praying on the weak and the stupid…sadly that affect everyone.
All I can say is keep safe and act wisely.💜
Who knew we would put back women’s rights 50 years!!!!!!!???????? FFA!!!!!!!!!!
FFS!!!!!!!! Cheers,H
I am so sorry for the loss of your co-worker to a disease in which the root causes are lies and liars in both the public and personal spaces we inhabit.
We struggle to understand, but we find ourselves angry at the deceit and the deceitful.
I lost a friend of many years last month who was unvaccinated, who lived in a family of unvaccinated, whose husband also got Covid and survived, a man who subsequently remarked, “I didn’t know it could get this bad.”
Speaking the truth helps us help each other in our hurt and anger.
I’m sorry about your co-worker.
When action has been taken, it has been taken late. Messages are confusing, mostly due to some politicians and parts of the media. Downright lies are allowed to circulate because they will shout “free speech” so loudly if anyone complains.
The rich countries are acting as though it’s a minor problem and are mostly concerned with keeping profits rolling in. The leaders say a few things about helping poorer countries but do nothing. It’s a world problem and we have to all work together for everyone’s sake.
Thank you and I agree with everything you said.