So here are some haiku
Unvaccinated
Have filled the ICU beds
Here, in our state, now
Health care’s been rationed
Called “crisis standards of care”
My love, be cautious
Please don’t ride your bike
Or clean the gutters this week
What if you get hurt
What if we’re too old
You say we’ve many years left
And we’ve got our shots
But that won’t matter
Doctors weigh the odds
Who’s got the best chance?
Car crash coming in
The driver’s only 20
Had his seatbelt on
Surgery’s hopeful
He’s got a fighting chance, and
Maybe more than us
We’re in our sixties
Our health’s pretty good, but still
The equation’s grim
Those who won’t get shots
Through anger, distrust, or fear
Is this what they want?
Does the pandemic
Fit their vision of the world
So it must not end?
Even a powerful Haiku Fails to convey the anger I feel towards those people who refuse to be vaccinated. A friend and I recently visited Idaho Falls where almost no one in the hotel where we stayed (a Hilton)) wore a mask -that included staff. Likewise at a local restaurant where we received strange looks (none too friendly)) for being the only ones wearing masks as we waited for our table. I was deeply uncomfortable throughout dinner as again None of the wait staff wore masks. What is wrong with these people?
It is a painful mystery indeed. My wise husband observes that we are in a time when facts don’t stand a chance against identification with beliefs.
Agreed. But what is horrifying is that this pandemic of delusional “ beliefs“ is not taking place in the Middle ages (when in fact many people were far more aware than we usually give them credit for) but in 21st century America.
Sigh. It does shatter my happy illusions about continual human progress.