As you all know, I got vaccinated. Nobody needs to spend any more time and energy on me trying to convince me that I should get vaccinated because the deed is already done. And nobody needs to spend energy or time on me to convince me NOT to get vaccinated, either, because I’ve already been all shot up and there’s nothing that’s  going to change that.

And personally? I am so done with the whole bad guys and good guys and blaming and shaming and name-calling and self-righteous indignation and calling other people “selfish” because they refuse to do something that terrifies them to make US feel safer (it might be useful to note here that the CDC reports that the unvaccinated aren’t the only ones spreading the virus). And people from both “sides” wishing each other sick – or even dead! – just to prove that they’re right.

For God’s sake, we need to stop.

It’s been my experience that telling people they’re “selfish” isn’t helpful. Bashing someone over the head again and again and again with our beliefs and thinking that will somehow convert  them doesn’t seem to work well, either. Both the vaxxed and un-vaxxed have been slinging “facts” at each other every day since the vaccine appeared and I don’t see that the fact-slinging has brought us much progress in this battle. (Have you noticed that people only seem to hear the “facts” they want to hear?)

So I thought maybe I’d try slinging some kindness instead to see where that might take us. You know, we’re allowed to be kind to people even when we don’t agree with them, right? Asking people to be kind to each other isn’t “taking sides” – it’s just trying to bring some civility into an insane and scary time.

Here’s what, I think, matters in the end: Kindness matters. Love matters. Let’s be kind to each other – kind to both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. Let’s reflect the love of Love; express the courage of Truth; manifest the joy of Life. Love, Truth, Life (God) doesn’t care whether we’re vaccinated or unvaccinated – She’s just going to keep on loving us whatever we do or don’t do. And I believe that’s what we should do for each other, too.

There were several dear unvaccinated friends who were in my thoughts as I wrote this post (none of them Christian Scientists, by the way – interestingly, my CS friends tend to get vaccinated and probably for the same reasons I did). I love my unvaccinated friends very much and I wish them nothing but good. We’re all in this together – both the vaccinated and the not.  Love help us all.

Amen.

Karen Molenaar Terrell