It was an ordinary day. Sunday morning and I'm sitting on my leather sofa reading my Sunday LNP and wondering if we will ever be able to stop worrying about coming down with COVID-19. There on the front of the "Perspective" section of the paper is a heading in 2-inch letters and numbers that read "3 YEARS OF COVID-19." Underneath it is a foot-long by half-a-foot high drawing of half-a-dozen miniature hand-drawn people separated by blue lines along the path they are walking. The two guest columnists for the day are Dr. Alexandra Solosko and Dr. Leon Kraybill who have written columns about living in our still-COVID enhanced world! Alexandra's column tells of reflecting on our journey from March 2020 to now while Leon's column tells of the lessons we've learned from this pandemic. Both doctors wrote about how life has changed since COVID first began, but yet how it still is the same after a few years. People are still dying from COVID, yet many others seem to have forgotten all about it and pretend to be leading a normal life. How about you!? Do you still think about the virus and what it can do to you if you might be affected by it? Do you bother to read articles in the newspaper about it or tune into TV shows where they might still be talking about it? Do you still wear a mask when you are in large groups of people? And if not, why not? As for my wife and myself, we carry a few masks in our car with us and when needed, we wear them. Every week when we go to the grocery store we put them on before we enter the store. Yeah...we look around and see very few others doing the same, but we just don't want to chance getting the virus and dying from it. You do realize that people are still dying from it...don't you? Yeah...right here in good ole Lancaster County! 266 people still die every day from COVID in the United States. Yeah...I know that's an extremely small number, but it's still 266 people that will no longer be able see there children ever again or go on vacation to exotic locations to enjoy their life. And, even if you survive COVID with mild symptoms, you may face life-changing consequences. Are you ready to do that? Do you know of anyone who had COVID and became very sick? Dr. Kraybill wrote that only 17% of the people in Lancaster County bothered to get vaccinated when the vaccine was available. Why? Were they afraid of having a needle put in their arm? Why didn't they want to be bothered? Are they too Macho to get a shot? I just don't get it! Medical personnel spent hours coming up with an injection that would HELP prevent you from getting COVID and you didn't bother to get an injection. As for me...I think many of them were afraid to have a needle put in their arm. Many of my relatives have come down with COVID and luckily made it through the miserable days afterward. I saw what they had to go through and chose to do whatever I could to prevent me from getting the virus. Yeah...I know I could still get it even though if have had two COVID shots and a booster. And...I realize I can still get it. But, if I do get the virus, at least in my mind, I will have done every thing possible to beat the virus. And, for that I can have peace of mind knowing that I did my part in trying to prevent the spread of the deadly virus to others. Life is too short to not do your best to live it to it's fullest, and for me, getting a shot in the arm that may prevent me from getting the virus and spreading it to others makes me feel as if I did my part to help everyone else. And...if you haven't also done the same...well, shame on you! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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