Here’s the thing, much like you, I want to get vaccinated. Oh boy, would I like science to bolster my immune system. I know this mutating virus is scary. And I want to avoid its ravages.
I say this from the comfort of working remotely with minimal human interactions, all of which are masked and distant. My companions are my lovely wife and two border collies. That’s it.
I’m waiting because there are people with far less safety and security than me. People need these precious protections because their bodies and work make possible these distant affordances.
Please, fellow white folks (because we tend to have the privilege), think of others—the person without documentation that works without a safety net. Or the indigenous person whose communities, already decimated by genocide, should not absorb another blow; Or for the teachers, cast into the fire as logs of fuel. And of the whole continents from which we have a long history of extracting and exploiting.
Separate your want from the needs. And let me say, we need to call our representatives and demand the dissolution of these constricting patents that choke the flow of precious hope.
And look to the safeties you have and ask that most delicate question – who needs this more than me? How can I make space for the vulnerable and exploited?
In these modern magicks, I too hear the siren’s song of “normal” life’s whisper; But this shot ain’t a silver bullet for our collective ails.
In this is a morbid moment, the overworked droop, tired and exhausted. Their hands-on their knees catching their breath. And they see and hear a herd of whiteness gathering like a good ol’ Black Friday crush of feral bipeds who have shed their humanity, looking to press to the front of the line; A stampede of those who’ve set aside and can still run.
So, call and pressure your congresspeople to take more significant action. They’ve all got their shots and must place this in the foreground.
Also, keep doing all you can to be safe without cutting ahead of those less secure than you.
In other words, from your privileged perch, take a moment to look around. Look for, see, and acknowledge the humanity of all those the work to clean your cage.