Corona Hero

I had my second shot of the coronavirus vaccine yesterday so I can now wear my cape with pride, put my knuckles to my waist, point my nose to the sun and breathe in the air of heroes. Yes, I too am now a kind of a Batman — with less money and no butler to blame if a murder is committed — as I too am protecting my city, my country, my world from the evil that has overshadowed everything else for over a year now.

Wearing my white plaster on my shoulder like a rank in the army, I show it off with a kind of ‘look what I did today’ kind of attitude. But wait, I didn’t add it as a filter on my profile picture on Facebook, I didn’t announce to my social media community that I am now fully vaccinated to protect you. Perhaps I am a kind of undercover hero, or perhaps I don’t want to put it out there that I have become part of the vaccinated squad.

I chose to get vaccinated, it was my choice and everyone is entitled to their choice as long as their choice also comes with a side order of protecting themselves and keeping themselves safe because they understand that they are a part of a much bigger picture. That being said, I did not get vaccinated when it was my official turn — age-wise. I had had a shoulder operation so I needed to know that I could count on at least one arm functioning. But even when the ‘gates’ had opened for everyone of all ages to go and get the vaccine, I still hesitated. From the start of the pandemic until now we have heard a lot, we have seen a lot of death and we have been faced with really extreme circumstances. My parents had been vaccinated and were doing fine so I felt I did not need to rush, just as long as we all kept on doing what we had been doing I believed we were doing our best to be safe. We still rarely go anywhere, we wash our hands every few minutes and we keep our distance. I was not ready. I realised we were all being used as test subjects or we were all being given a vaccine that had been produced at the same time that the virus had been let loose. I don’t do conspiracy theories and I don’t believe that it is a means for world domination, but I do know that I am a mother of two young children and I was scared.

Then the new variant came along and I was even more scared so I booked an appointment. And from there on I had entered the ranks of those who believe in the vaccination as being the one thing that will save us, those who respect society, those who are doing right in a world with so much wrong. If I die tomorrow I am now sure that Saint Peter will look at his list and see I was a good citizen, obedient, and had gone along with the solution so I will be given a backstage pass to heaven.

But there are still others who are scared, who are tired of being called menaces to society, punks who are not following the rules for the health of us all. Even if these people say they are standing up for their human rights, deep down they are probably scared — God knows the media has done enough to spread fear. And being scared is not a nice place to be. It is an emotion that can easily turn to anger if it is felt deeply enough, and that is about where we are now.

Let’s just switch lanes for a second. If a woman gets pregnant and the question of what to do comes up, the answer is usually ‘it is her body, it is her choice.’ Don’t we all have our own bodies, don’t we all have a choice — or at least a notion that we still have a choice? Or gay men and women. When heterosexuals talk about gay people they usually say ‘I don’t care what they do in their beds, as long as it doesn’t affect me.’ Extreme example? Probably, but you can see where I am going with this. If a woman has a child it is her choice, this child could affect our society negatively, we do not know. What if a gay person sleeps with another gay person and this one event creates a chain reaction that could in some way backfire on us? Anything is possible, every action has a reaction, and the fact that we are more aware of how we can contract the virus and how to protect ourselves makes it more possible for a situation to be avoided or dealt with in a calmer way.

My point is, after a bit of humour, some comparisons, and a personal account of how I decided to replace my fear with extra protection, the whole thing is taking away the human factor. Those who wear masks, those who do not, those who go and do rapid tests, those who have safe passes, those who go to Corona parties so they can do what they like for a few months without any judgment or a need to explain their actions, we are all human. Yes, we should all wear masks, they also serve a great service for people like me who have a very expressive face. We should all keep our social distance — we should have been doing it anyway instead of wanting to push our way to the front of the line — and we should all respect the people around us enough to protect ourselves. But the fact is we are all very afraid on a very human level and we should be able to respect the people who are not yet ready to be vaccinated, in the same way that we expect them to respect us and everyone else, and on both ends of the spectrum, the respect should be earned.