It’s been a long time since I posted anything here, mostly because (I thought) Writer’s Block. Plus, everyone else has more interesting and important things to say! Woe is me.
Except I am Emotionally Literate, and I know that being a victim is Not Good, and one should be Empowered! Every Special Snowflake is Important and Unique! And so last month, I finally started writing a letter to the people I was angry at: those who let me down, let my children down, “caused” me to lose my political and social identity over the past three years.
After I had been writing for a couple of days - vomiting words onto the page, actually, increasingly spewing rage and making terrible faces - I removed the names of the people I was writing to. And then I kept writing, but eventually I completely erased what I wrote to those erstwhile villains in my story. I wrote other words instead, and I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.
It turned out that the original letter was unnecessary, but I did seek some catharsis, since neither acknowledgment nor apologies from anyone - villain or otherwise - were anywhere in sight. I wanted to forgive those still-oblivious objects of my anger for the most selfish of reasons: achieving a reduction in heart palpitations and overall personal stress, and to reclaim the lost hours and weeks and months spent fuming and grieving and being unable to cry. At the end of the day, notwithstanding the vagaries of the human heart, I wanted a record of the past three years for the sake of my children - who in some cases have no memories from Before the Covid Era.
I ended up writing an offering for my kids, and any other younger and older persons who wish to read: part historical accounting (BCE through the present), part dictionary of political terms, part memoir, and largely an invitation to move on with our lives, albeit a bit stronger and a bit wiser…with a little more macabre humor, a lot more awareness, and a ton more appreciation for those with whom we stand on the barricades.
I am following up with a New Year’s resolution: moving forward into 2023 while letting go of bitterness. I want my children (and myself!) to face the world with a solid moral grounding, and a sense of the possibilities that remain for each of us to honor our humanity, our communities, and the wider ecological world in which we reside.
The article is divided into eight parts, and soon I will send out a new “chapter” every few days until its end. I am so eager to hear YOUR next chapters, too; please feel free to share in the comments. (Thanks to all of you who helped me shape and polish the article already, and for the virtual and actual hugs.)
Thanks for reading, and happy new year!
Sarabeth
I feel your pain. First they said, “Get the jab! Covid stops here!”
Of course they were wrong it didn’t and it doesn’t.
 then, “Protect your neighbor or grandma! Get the jab!”
Of course it didn’t protect against transmission. In fact, and it now comes out that it was never tested against transmission. Sigh…
But those vaccine mandates! All those blue collar workers who lost their jobs. All the professionals who lost their jobs. A vaccine mandate that was useless and caused incredible harm (4 vaccine damaged, one dead in my immediate circle.)
The isolation, the name-calling, and they were wrong wrong wrong.
It prevents hospitalization and death! Now over 60% of those hospitalized and dying our Vaxxed. In fact, the more you are jabbed, the more likely you are to have Covid.
But those who dare to question, those who saw through the lies and who dead speak their truth, were ostracized, ridiculed, and isolated. And they were right!!
But don’t expect any apologies. Don’t expect any acknowledgment ... “Geez, you were right about this all along Sarabeth!”
$101.3 billion in profits for big Pharma. How Dare you question that? Are you a conspiracy theorist? Do you actually think Pharma would withhold safe and effective early treatments for almost a year while they came up with a vaccine that did not and does not work? How dare you!
If you can’t be bright be wrong at the top of your lungs. I saw one author, I think her name is Astor, calling for amnesty. Mistakes were made she said.
I’ll tell that to my vaccine damaged friends. I’ll let you know how that goes.