Words matter. Words create reality. Thanks to Jim Capdevielle for bringing the concept of community immunity to my attention. Golly. Now THAT makes sense. All along I’ve been grossed out by the term ‘herd immunity’ even though i understand what it means. ‘Herd immunity’ is the goal to assure survival of a group of animals. Community immunity is THE goal to assure peoples’ survival.
Co-vid has had and continues to have a profound effect on my sense of ‘community.‘ How about you? Early March 2020 I was getting together with friends and family to eat and play games. Of course we laughed and hee-hawed at times and our shirts may have gotten damp from sneezing into our sleeves – but we all did it. Before the pandemic, WE was real,palpable and tangible. WE took care of each other when we were sick, sad, lonely, worried. WE hugged and WE hugged when greeting, celebrating, mourning and loving. And then, we became contagious and fearful of hurting one another by doing those things. We stepped back from each other to protect each other from the invisible enemy. WE didn’t want to hurt each other.
WE knew way too many people were dying horrible deaths in overwhelmed hospitals. Our tangible community started to collapse: STAY HOME! STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. Graduations, weddings, family reunions and even funerals were cancelled. Yet, WE kept community alive by communicating – facetime, zoom, phone, text, emails.
As an introvert, it wasn’t that big a deal when I had to stay home. Masking was novel. Unpleasant, but doable. Social distancing was annoying, but doable. Everything was doable until the kids couldn’t go to school.
For me, that was when I felt the immensity of the problem. That was when i felt community was threatened. How could kids stay home? KIds, you know of course, must have socialization, stimulation, self-esteem-ation and the thrills of learning all sorts of stuff, right? Kids must play with their friends and make new friends. School is children’s work. And, suddenly they were out of work as were millions of adults.
I know there are so many other groups of people deeply affected by the pandemic, but my point is this.
In order for us to resist the virus that threatens us, let’s go for Community Immunity and leave the herd word to animals. Mask, wash hands, stay distant and accept the vaccine. Keep on coping. Hang on to hope. And remember to remind each other “This too shall pass”.
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