The familiar voice triggered the all too familiar feelings of disgust, my brain exploding like popcorn in a microwave. Trump was pontificating in front of a political gathering in North Carolina. NPR covered it, as I know they must, but hate that they do.
However, it wasn’t his boasts of return which disrupted my early morning rendezvous with my first cup of coffee…but his calling on the righteous to take back the America they love. Righteous: acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin. This coming from the man who boasted about grabbing women by their pubic hairs.
I have barely returned to listening to the news when I first awake in the morning, now again I am hesitant. Vaccinated, my life is returning to a post Covid normalcy, though I still wear a mask in public. Less and less people are coming to our public health vaccination clinics. In the last few weeks, with the exception of 2nd dose clinics, our numbers are in the single digits while our staffing stays the same. Four hours, three to five nurses or doctors, three National Guard medics, and two to three volunteers for registration and vaccine education. We trade stories, play on our phones, doze and mutter about the irrationality of folks not wanting the shot.
I worry that post Covid normalcy might include more trauma and suffering merely postponed by the pandemic. West Virginia is giving free guns and rifles to people who get vaccinated. I guess if they don’t die of the virus, they will just kill each other with their new toys!
Carole J. Garrison 