Editorial – Coming in out of the cold.
by The Standard | October 29th, 2020 Podcast https://thestandardnewspaper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Coming-in-Out-of-the-Cold-Oct-29th-2020.mp3
Brrrrr, that was a cool gust of wind. Oh well, I’m so thankful for a warm home and others in my space bubble being close! Weather is transient, but family, the way life changes on a dime, and the love in my heart, these remain and grow. Accept, accept… embrace with Grace… . These past few years it was assumed I was on the way out, my number was on the board, but I’ve experienced the sincere efforts of those in the medical system touching my life in the ways they know to heal. And coupled with the standard and alternative supplements I take, the love of my family and of those in my church community, I’ve experienced God’s intervention in my health, I am here living large, well and grateful for you all! “The Season of Thanksgiving,” which starts in late September early October and goes through to the end of Orthodox Christmas in the coming new year, is a season of acknowledging so many good things which have gone before and continue in their spirit today. We must learn to see, in order for it to be! Remembrance Day follows Thanksgiving Day in ‘The Season of Thanksgiving’s’ calendar. We need to be grateful, for the fact we have so many in our society who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help us, If you know any people who work in the medical or paramedical support system, drop them a line, or an email, to express to them how much you value the work they do for you and yours. The insecurity our population would experience in life without these intercessors stepping in to do their part would be tremendous for many. Imagine the disorder and trauma so many experience in countries who don’t have a medical system like ours. Even though us guys try to muscle it out, claiming we don’t need a doctor, we eventually have to capitulate, when things get extreme, and then we appreciate you being there. Vulnerability is a very sobering and human thing, but the anticipation a vaccination will be developed for this covid thing is good, and is what’s known as a positive stressor. The situation we find ourselves in is this, there is a point individuals arrive at where even positive stress is still a stressor of a negative kind, if people cannot stand up a draw on the hope offered by it. It’s like this sustained s.t.r.e….t.c.h.i.n.g of the nearness of a vaccine, just out of reach, can exhaust people. Given, I am a counsellor; I offer my ear and understanding to a greater proportion of individuals than most, who are struggling in life with how to manage their responses to crisis, real or imagined. Among the many I have talked with, some have shared a preoccupation with the fear-mongering out there. Unfortunately, when someone has an outlook of fatalism or conversely a fight on all fronts mentality, these doomsayers are attention grabbers for them. So if you are hearing, things like, the government has an insidious plan to control us all, and that is what the mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing is all about, just take a step back and breath at a practical distance. To those who are attempting to spread this preoccupation, disguising it as some sort of insight and care for others I say, “A mask is not reminder of covid and fear, as much as it instills people with a sense of security, of the idea we have some collective ability to slow the spread of this disease, affording our medical and paramedical people the time they need to turn their resources over to developing a healthy vaccine. Washing hands is always good, so wash off the sanitizer when you get home with good ol’ hand soap. It’s all good.” Albeit, even a broken clock is correct twice a day! So in all sincerity, I do ask those who are developing the delivery-mediums which will be combined with the vaccines, produced to beat the Covid-19 coronavirus, to please ensure there is no mercury used as that delivery-medium in any of the inoculations. Just like Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” And so, the idea the medical system has changed the reference for mercury to ‘thimerosal’ in recent history, in order that inoculation ingredients would be accepted by the public again, encouraging openness to taking these vaccines more, could appear as a campaign of mis/dis-information, and it goes to the integrity of this part of the medical system, and could engender distrust. And I don’t believe that is what you are going for with this approach. Let’s call a spade a spade. I mean, it is what it is brah. So, I ask you, “Please come up with a legitimately safer delivery-medium, so people won’t oppose taking it, out of concern that in the long run the cure could be worse than the disease.”
I know personally, various paramedical personnel who have stated, “If they are mandated to take the vaccines for covid, and this component isn’t altered to a safe alternative first, they and others they know in the medical field will give up their front-line positions, even to the degree of getting out of health care altogether.” This is a legitimate concern, they are not the type to make idle or rash statements, they are of the sci-ency set. If this is any indication of a larger revelation we could be without needed personnel to care for those of us in need, all because the provincial and federal governments did not mandate the medical system to finally find a safe alternative. Even still, this change will need to be real and tangible, because this bubble has burst it can’t just be words of reassurance, in order to impart confidence, like we see south of the border. I’m not trying to fear monger, but am trying to intercede for those with this charge in Government who I’m sure are very busy with this matter. This is also for the public, and for those entrusted with this in the medical system, it’s an effort to inform the relationships we all have with each other. Let’s call it a caring preemptive strike, so to speak. Those dealing with this crisis don’t need any backlash, so let’s fight on the real front line, the line of life. I don’t think a single war vet would say, medical personnel in the military are not included among those who have lain down their lives for others. Without field medics entering the fray, exposing their own lives to risk, to attend to those in need of care on the battlefield, many wouldn’t have made it. This is what those in our hospitals, in an equal sense are doing today, it’s part of God’s work to heal. Remembrance Day is when we commemorate the selfless efforts of those who stood between us and the enemies of the innate dignity of life, given by God. Their efforts have preserved the exercise of personal responsibility, freewill. This Day comes so closely related to Thanksgiving Day, to enter it in to ‘The Season of Thanksgiving’ is a natural fit. Without doctors and nurses ministering in Mobil Army Service Hospital (M.A.S.H.) units, battling against the enemy of life, the light of many human beings would have been quickly snuffed out. Due to the skill, commitment, and value for life medical personnel carry many came home who would not. For those who have contracted this disease, the battle is no less real, let’s not weaken our forces by belying the sincerity of workers right there with them in our civilian facilities. I think it’s less than one step sideways to include today’s civilian medical personnel, fighting today’s unseen enemy, in this year’s heartfelt Remembrance Day, certainly in our prayers and personal appreciations at least. I know there are others who are moved as I am to pray gratefully, and in our prayers we ask God to give us eyes to see the Love expressed through others, so we can always be thankful. In this season, there are plenty of people, moments, and opportunities, to live thankfully in relation to. So let’s choose to be a Blessing. Let’s try that on for size and see if it doesn’t transform your autumn blahs into a stream of co-working with God, and warmth in the lives around.
Happy Seasoning and God Bless.