I think I’ve converted Kevin to a people hater. No. Not hater, he has more compassionate and kindness than I do when it comes to our fellow human beings, however, he doesn’t have any patience for people anymore. Surely you can understand. People seem to walk around in a cloud of self-importance anymore. It’s all about ME. But what about ME. You need to make room for ME. Screw YOU. People are sheeple anymore. They don’t think for themselves. They get in line and wait for instructions. For example: when we got back from our Florida trip, we noticed, (not just this time, but ALL the time), how people will flock to one line, thereby making that line longer, when all they had to do was first notice there were other lines to stand in and secondly to actually stand in those lines. It never ceases to amaze me how people are so willing to just be led by the nose instead of grabbing life by the short and curlies and take charge of their lives. Sometimes, I just want to snap my fingers in front of someone’s face and yell, “WAKE UP!” It’s like we’re living in a Matrix, sans red pill option.
Got my annual flu shot the other day. In my butt. The nurses in our clinic are nice enough to give us our flu shots as opposed to having to go to Employee Health to get them. I went to Employee Health once. ONCE. And vowed never to go again. This was shortly after the hospital made it mandatory that we get a flu vaccination every year or we weren’t allowed to work. I was furious. I am still furious. But I get why they make it mandatory, we work in a hospital. And I have a choice, it’s not a very good choice but I have the choice of quitting and getting a job elsewhere. But I don’t have to like it. I DON’T LIKE IT. I don’t like when someone takes my choice away, for any reason. But again, I get it. Anyway. The year I got my flu vaccination through employee health I was sitting down and the girl who gave me the shot was standing up. DON’T EVER DO THAT. You must both be standing or both be sitting. The angle of the needle is off if one of you is sitting and the other one is standing. My arm ached for nearly a year and by the time it stopped, it was time to get another injection.
I bitched to my co-workers about it and that was enough to start the conversation so that they started giving us the vaccinations. And then we joked, “why don’t get them in the butt” and they all said, “why not?” And the butt injection was born. I have had ZERO issues since getting the injections in my butt. I have so much padding there, why not? Yes. I have to bare my butt to a co-worker but whatever. It’s a butt cheek. Big deal. So. I’m good for another year for that. But I do wonder what’s going to happen when the COVID vaccine comes out. Will we be one of the first groups to be forced to get it? I’m thinking … probably. And I don’t want to be one of the first groups to get it. The first group of people who got the polio vaccine actually contracted polio – not that COVID is worse than polio, it’s not, but still. And I wonder – are we going to be able to do anything, participate in anything, if we DON’T get the vaccine?
“You can’t go on a cruise unless you can prove you’ve had the COVID vaccine.” Or, “you can’t go grocery shopping unless you can prove you’ve had the vaccine.” Sound crazy? Look around you – we are living crazy right now. Mark my words. That’s coming, folks.
A co-worker, well a distant co-worker, meaning I’ve never worked with the guy but he worked for the same clinic as I do just in a different department, put his notice in to help his wife with her blog. Which is highly successful and making a lot of money, apparently. Well, not apparently, it is, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to afford to quit his job and help her. I looked up the blog, it’s about healthy eating and has tons of recipes on it. Not exactly my cup of tea but apparently she has found her audience and good for her success. I would link the blog but I don’t want them to see my link because I already feel like too many people in my real life know about this blog as it is, I’d rather not advertise it further. But that got me to thinking about this blog and kicked my butt into gear to start doing something with it again. I need to stop being so lazy and just DO IT. God knows I’m not getting any younger, what exactly am I waiting for?
I wish I could say I had a niche to massage, water and watch grow on this blog, but let’s face it, I don’t. I enjoy writing about whatever my pea brain is interested in at that time and who knows if anyone really reads it, let alone enjoys it, but honestly, that’s not why I do what I do – I write on this blog because it’s fun for me and I would like to leave a big of me behind after I die.
I have no idea where this blog is going but I’m excited to see where it leads me and I hope you’ll stick around and experience the changes with me. And if I ever start losing motivation, I’ll just go back to that blog and dream bigger and better
A nurse, who works on the COVID unit at the hospital where I work, posted an impassioned letter to us via our Intranet. It was a great letter because you couldn’t help but be emotionally triggered reading it. It talked about the frustration and the determination her, and her fellow team, put forth to treat patients with COVID. And then the letter takes a bitter turn toward the end basically chastising COVID naysayers. So what if the COVID patients have comorbidities, does it really matter if/when they die? Would it matter to you if your loved one was one of the ones in the hospital struggling to breathe? Or for that matter, dies? My parents are in the danger zone – they are both in their 70’s. It would pain me greatly if they caught the disease. My mom would most likely be okay, she’s pretty healthy and doesn’t have any under lying health issues, but my dad has diabetes. Though I’m pretty sure he has it under control, I’m sure that would be a factor if he ever contracted the disease. She has a point and she’s right. It’s easy to be self righteous and downplay the virus when it’s not directly affecting us or our families. And death, no matter the cause, should NEVER be celebrated or encouraged *cough-riots-cough*, however, she’s missing the point. Once again, we are calling on emotion and not on facts when dealing with this pandemic.
When we, and yes, I lump myself into this category because I REFUSE to get sucked down the emotional vortex of irrational panic, bring up the fact that people with comorbidities that happen to contract COVID are recorded as dying from COVID, it’s disingenuous. In order to get an accurate grasp of this disease we must first look at the FACTS. Emotions and knee-jerk reactions have no place for this analysis – leave it at the door. Agendas aside, just how dangerous is this disease?
So yes. Being accurate is important. Because allowing ourselves to run on emotion incites fear, misinformation and ultimately, unwise, and unnecessary, precautions and decisions.
So, back to the above letter from the nurse. What she is experiencing and witnesses is terrible. I can’t imagine having to deal with that … but then again, that’s why I didn’t go to nursing school. I didn’t want to experience that. And though terrible, and I feel for the loved ones of the individuals that are experiencing these terrible things, it’s no more horrible than witnessing someone suffering from pneumonia, influenza, COPD, or any-other breathing-related issues. I am in no way minimizing her story, however, let’s keep our heads about us and look at this objectively: death, in all forms, is terrible and horrific. But life is full of risks and all we can do is try and live as healthy, and as safely as we can. But life can not, and should not, stop altogether.
Write From Karen 