Avoid knee-jerk reactions to new variants

Most of the world crawled into a hole and pulled the hole in after them when the coronavirus hit the planet with deadly impact.

“I know vaccination requirements are unpopular...My administration has put them in place not to control your life, but to save your life and the lives of others,” said President Joseph R. Biden in comments made last week prior to Christmas.

Professional sports teams are canceling some of their games due to the recent outbreak of Omicron, the latest in a line of variants of COVID-19.

National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association issued a statement last week stating they would not participate in the Olympics in Beijing, China in early February.

A few NFL games have been delayed due to a few players testing positive for the virus. However, teams have backed off the testing protocol of testing everyone. They will be testing those who have symptoms consistent with carriers of the virus. A report suggested that many players that were tested did not have any of the ill effects of the virus.

I’m assuming most folks in the county did not bother to hunker down because of the new outbreak. Families were together to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Some will contract the virus, but having time with family and friends was worth the assumed risk.

I hope we do not succumb to fear rather, it is my hope to be kind to those who have chosen not to accept the vaccine. Those who have been vaccinated should relax and continue to live the life they have embraced to this point in their life.

Enjoying my grandchildren, their moms and dads, and enjoying Christmas Eve at my son-in-law’s church was part of the whole.

There are reports that there may be a fourth vax in our future, or, if there are more variants, a fifth and perhaps a sixth.

Everyone needs to slow down and recall that flu vaccines have been offered, based on last year’s flu, and sometimes that is not the right combination.

I guess what I’m getting at is to relax and not have knee-jerk reactions to every variant that comes along.

One thing I do know: None of us will be getting out of this life alive. Whether we die of the coronavirus or a heart attack, each of us has a day and time when our number is up. Until that day and time, let’s relax and enjoy the days we have on this planet orbiting the Sun in a vast galaxy that’s made up of untold numbers of galactic wonders.

Happy New Year! Enjoy the New Year and those around you who are important. Who knows, you may meet new people and launch you into the New Year with a greater reality of hope.

NEW YEAR

Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year’s is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion.

Mark Twain