There Is No Equivalency

I cannot think about why COVID deniers are anything but selfish.

The absurdity now is just boring. Half of the country has decided to take leave of its senses. You can try and call being unvaccinated a choice, but the definition of choice is fluid to many. Prochoice is bad when it comes to a woman’s right to choose. Yet it is just fine when the choice is whether to be vaccinated or not. And the inconsistent thought of life being sacred is irrational if that choice endangers children too young to be vaccinated.

If your freedom to choose then results in an unvaccinated adult giving my 5-year-old COVID and she dies, who is deprived of her pursuit of life, liberty, and freedom? It seems that there must be more to being a free people than being administered a vaccine or not. If I jump on a grenade and give my life to save my buddies, is that the equivalent of taking one or two shots in the arm for my fellow Americans?

It would seem to me we are equating the bravery of the men and women who have given their lives for this country to what we are being asked to do as ordinary citizens such as voting, paying taxes and getting vaccinated. They are not the same. Maybe it began when we cheapened the word “hero” to apply to all manner of mundane pursuits.

Just because you are a police officer does not mean you are a hero. A hero is that police officer that runs toward danger to protect another or, as on January 6th, his country. A hero is not everyone who enlisted. It is the military person that earns the Silver Star for meritorious bravery such as jumping on that grenade to save fellow soldiers.

I am tired of COVID and the false equivalence with freedom to ignore your civic responsibility. Those that believe they are heroes somehow for refusing to be vaccinated for their fellow Americans, are not. It is time to stop using the symbolism of what it means to be a hero with someone who just doesn’t believe in protecting themselves and the rest of us against a deadly disease.