Dear Editor:
We are still in the midst of an exhausting pandemic that has left us all frustrated with having to deal with successive variants, fearful that we or someone we love might get sick or lose a job, confused by public policies which are no sooner enacted then, of necessity, soon amended to keep us safe while attempting to keep the economy turning over, and angry that there are still people who refuse to get vaccinated.
Just two days ago, I offered my own cold shoulder to somebody whose shoulder I used to clap with affection. That’s partly why I’m writing this. He’s an anti-vaxxer and I’m persuaded that getting a series of jabs is the only way out of this global mess.
Reflecting on our momentary chance encounter, which I immediately seized upon to deliver my silent rebuke as I drove by, I began to wonder what had gotten into both of us and what it is that one or the other of us just can’t see about the other’s point of view. But no amount of thinking about it for nearly two years, including the past couple of days, has yielded an answer. I still can’t see his point of view and, judging by his recent unsuccessful attempt to overturn a local workplace vaccine mandate, I doubt he can see mine.
Of course, all this pondering on my part is set against the backdrop of the anti-vaccine mandate demonstration in Ottawa where being unable or unwilling to see the point of view of others is the order of the day for the protesters. Judging by the conduct of some of them – invading restaurants, hotels and shopping malls unmasked and expecting to be tolerated let alone served, and desecrating national monuments – seeing a point of view other than their own is beyond them.
Moreover, they are unable to see that while Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which some have brandished before the TV cameras, was what permitted them to decline the vaccine. It also allowed the rest of us to accept it and to protect ourselves from those whose reckless behaviour poses a threat – not only to our choice but to our very health.
I don’t know where all this short-sightedness and willful blindness will lead our country. Neither do I know how broken relationships are going to heal, when the all-clear is finally sounded and we emerge into a new normal.
All I know is that as an individual I must reconsider and amend the way I treat the people I know, and still care for, who refuse to be vaccinated. And while it doesn’t seem like much, perhaps it will help me, in some small way, to deal with my frustration, fear, confusion and anger.
Bob Cooper,
Elora