{"id":4068,"date":"2021-03-11T09:23:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T14:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4068"},"modified":"2021-03-11T09:24:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T14:24:09","slug":"waiting-for-the-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/03\/11\/waiting-for-the-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting for the Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Year<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s March 11th<\/sup>, 2021.  It was a year ago that we began to understand that our world was closing.  On March 11th<\/sup> of 2020, I was preparing for Ohio\u2019s role in the Democratic Primary.  I was going to meetings to get ready to officiate in the 2020 track season.  And I was writing a \u201cViral News<\/a>\u201d essay on the coronavirus epidemic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went to vote a few days later at the Board of Elections on March 15th<\/sup>, then went out to lunch.\u00a0\u00a0We ate in a near-empty restaurant, the St. Patrick\u2019s Day decorations looking lonely, and March Madness Basketball already cancelled.\u00a0\u00a0We talked with our server for a while \u2013 what she would do, how long before staff was laid off, was she at risk.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That was our last \u201cin-restaurant\u201d meal we had until last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did manage to have an election \u2013 in spite of COVID.  Americans voted by mail, and we voted absentee, and more Americans voted than ever before.  Republicans in multiple states are trying to keep that from happening again \u2013 when more Americans vote, the Republicans think they lose.  They were right about the Presidency, but did pretty well on the \u201cdown-ticket\u201d races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn\u2019t have a track season last year, though they managed to have fall and winter sports thereafter.\u00a0\u00a0I didn\u2019t officiate track, but more importantly for track and for kids, there\u2019s a \u201chole\u201d in those programs: a year is lost.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a whole class of kids who haven\u2019t been exposed or interested in track.\u00a0\u00a0And for the seniors, there is no recovering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ends and Beginnings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The world \u201cbutcher\u2019s bill\u201d of COVID is over 2.6 million lost.\u00a0\u00a0Here in the United States we have almost twenty percent of those deaths, with 560,000 lost in the past year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We didn\u2019t do it well:\u00a0\u00a0we allowed simple COVID precautions to turn into political issues.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe half of those deaths could have been avoided \u2013 but they weren\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But, we have performed a scientific miracle.\u00a0\u00a0Vaccines have developed at record pace \u2013 Warp Speed\u00a0\u00a0as former President Trump would say.\u00a0\u00a0Today we have three in the United States:\u00a0\u00a0Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson.\u00a0\u00a0In the rest of the world there\u2019s even more, Astra-Zeneca, he Russian \u201cSputnik\u201d vaccine, the shadowy China vaccine, and even more to come.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As folks get the vaccine, they begin to feel a freedom to \u201clive\u201d again.  Vaccines won\u2019t make them \u201cbulletproof\u201d to COVID, but they do almost guarantee that the ultimate nightmare won\u2019t happen:  dying unconscious from lack of oxygen on a ventilator in the hospital.  The vaccine opens up the world again, a world lost a year ago.  Folks can see each other, hug each other, and watch each other smile.  And they can do it without the risk of killing the ones they love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got my first shot three weeks ago.  A shadow of worry disappeared.  I got my second shot yesterday afternoon.  I\u2019m planning on being sick today, and if so, it\u2019s worth every bit.  But sick or not \u2013 Jenn gets her first shot this afternoon, and with that a much greater shadow will disappear for me.  So we won\u2019t be missing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life Alterations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are making some big changes in our life.\u00a0\u00a0After we both retired, we purchased a camper that we enjoyed.\u00a0\u00a0We even \u201csnow-birded\u201d for a year in 2018, spending the winter in Florida.\u00a0\u00a0But during our COVID self-exile, two more dogs were added to the pack, now totaling four.\u00a0\u00a0Two dogs in the camper was tight, and we never even got the chance to try three.\u00a0\u00a0But four is not possible, not even to transport much less camp or sleep.\u00a0\u00a0So the camper is going on sale.\u00a0\u00a0If we get back to camping, it\u2019s going to be in a \u201cbus\u201d that all six of us can enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a long year.\u00a0\u00a0We, and probably most Americans, have lost folks we know to COVID.\u00a0\u00a0If they weren\u2019t very close, we might not even have felt the loss.\u00a0\u00a0Since we were in \u201cCOVID exile\u201d, we didn\u2019t have reason to \u201cfeel\u201d their absence.\u00a0\u00a0One of the \u201cbad\u201d parts of re-opening life is the holes that are left behind.\u00a0\u00a0As we re-join life we will see those holes and feel the emptiness:\u00a0\u00a0the missing person, the empty chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Goes On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a history teacher, I always wondered how people dealt with national loss.  Whether it was settlers facing diphtheria, or Native Americans smallpox, or earlier groups facing bubonic plague.  How did the weight of tragedy not crush their spirit, and their willingness to move on?  In a small way, I guess we know now.  We know that the weight of suffering, of isolation, and the constant shadow of concern, impacts everyone.  And as that weight is lifted, most feel the lightness.  It makes us want to live life again, despite the loss and the suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes us want the world to go on.  And for many, it makes them want to be a part of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Year It\u2019s March 11th, 2021.  It was a year ago that we began to understand that our world was closing.  On March 11th of 2020, I was preparing for Ohio\u2019s role in the Democratic Primary.  I was going to meetings to get ready to officiate in the 2020 track season.  And I was writing a \u201cViral News\u201d essay on … Continue reading “Waiting for the Shot”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWaiting for the Shot : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I got my second COVID vaccination yesterday. 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