What exactly are “Wait and see-ers…” waiting to see?
I know a few of them. You know a few of them. There are still plenty of them out there. They are not died-in-the-wool Trumpers or right wing fanatics. They are perhaps a little more new agey than most of us. They may not like to follow the rules (whatever the rules are) or they may just generally mistrust “the government” — as if the government was some strange giant entity independent of people like you and me.
But for whatever reason — even though vaccinations are now plentiful and available to all Americans — even though loads of celebrities from Dolly Parton to Martha Stewart to Whoopee Goldberg to Donald and Melania Trump (secretly) have gotten vaccinated — there are still folks out there who haven’t yet gotten vaccinated. And when you ask them why, they simply reply…I’m waiting to see…”
My question is: WHAT ARE THEY WAITING TO SEE?
Regarding those of us who are vaccinated — do the “wait and see-ers” imagine our hair is going to turn green or fall out? Are we going to have seizures and go blind? Are we going to start behaving in weird, grotesque unpredictable ways like the dog is talking or the mail is delivered by an Alien? What exactly is going to happen to us that’s not going to happen to them? Do they know? Can they tell us? Or are they just waiting to see….
Well, we know what may happen to them that’s not going to happen to us. They may get sick. They get COVID, a horrible deadly disease that is sometimes accompanied by terrible long-term effects.
And, according to the CDC (which I admit isn’t God but at this point is as trustworthy a source as we’ve got on Earth) the reason COVID illness and death is falling so sharply right now is the steadily growing percentage of people who have received vaccinations. And the CDC has let us know that fully vaccinated individuals can now take off their masks inside and outside. We can interact freely with our vaccinated friends, colleagues, school mates, etc. The vaccine seems to be working as well or better than predicted — it’s even preventing infection by the numerous variants. In other words, we’re liberated.
And yet, still there are plenty of “wait and see-ers…” about 15% of the public according to polls. And I have another question for this skeptical sub-group of the general public: What if you weren’t the only ones “waiting to see”? What if all the rest of us — all of us willing guinea pigs who got vaccinated in a timely manner — said we weren’t going to trust the CDC and the government and the celebrities and our brother or cousin or mother who was imploring us to get vaccinated….
No, what if all of us were like you — ALL OF US!! And we were just going to WAIT AND SEE…What would the country look like then? How many more people would be getting sick every day? How many more people would be dying every day? What would the hospital emergency rooms look like? What would the doctors and nurses be saying? Wouldn’t it be like it was a year ago when we were in the throes of a deadly virus? Remember when we were all scrambling to be safe with one mask or two masks and with gloves and disinfectant or whatever we could lay our hands on to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe?
WOULDN’T IT BE A RETURN TO THAT AWFUL STATE OF FEAR AND PERIL IF ALL OF US BEHAVED LIKE YOU’RE BEHAVING AND DECIDED TO WAIT AND SEE…
So, please, if you won’t listen to the CDC or to a trusted friend or to Arnold Swartzenegger or Dolly Parton — just listen to your own common sense. Your hair won’t turn green, I promise. And kidding aside, it’s time to join the neighborhood, the community, the country, the world — and stop being one of the 15%ers. Get vaccinated!
