Today I joined the burgeoning multitude. I had my first shot of the Moderna vaccine.
I stood in the 1.20 p.m. line. This, I thought to myself, must be what it is like at Lourdes. The very old, the misshapen, the bent, the lame, those on wheelchairs, those with canes, those pushing walkers. Black people, brown people, yellow people, white people, all with a shared purpose - hopefully to evade the clutches of the virus that has changed our lives.
I feel there appear to be two streams of thought. Those who place absolute faith in science and statistics, and the others - the anti-vaxers.
As I have written in previous entries, it is really difficult, if not impossible, for us to grasp that our lives, or rather, our lives as we knew them, have irrevocably changed. It is almost a year now and what was really strange is now a way of life. We wear masks, We do not go to gyms, to theaters, to cinemas, to restaurants, to shops, we hardly socialise. Zoom has found its way into our lives. We learn languages, do yoga, paint, draw, analyze our psyches, learn to fix cars, whatever it is, on zoom. The world of science fiction is here.
I feel that I hover between these two opposing streams. I don't feel science is invincible. I don't feel we have all the answers and the genius to do and solve everything. This virus is new, and it is doing what it must do, it is mutating. We are learning about it every day as it continues to evolve. Although I don't think the vaccine will change our lives, of course I will have it, So today I drove to Contra Costa College. This is an area I worked in for years, but haven't been this way in quite a while. The trees clad in their pink blossoms line El Portal Avenue, making the drive quite pleasant.
I had the vaccine, and have an appointment for the second shot. So far I feel fine - I don't even have a sore arm, although I realise this can still happen, But do I feel that my life will change? No, not at all. Has the virus been vanquished - no. It is mutating, as viruses do, it is here among us, and we have to learn to live with it. Vaccine or not, we have to be careful that we will not get infected, and that we don't pass it on to someone else.
That is our life now, along with masks, social distancing, and zoom.
