Rant 3,023: Movin' On

Oh, and did I mention that while we were on our cruise, maybe about 1 percent of passengers were wearing masks, and perhaps about 25 percent of cruise workers were masked up?
 
I forgot to mention that in Friday’s Rant, but if you are looking for a reason that masking has now become a true, individual choice, look no further than that comment I just made …
 
But then again, even though we are clearly in the endemic phase of COVID, California is considering masking up once again, which will, I am very sure, will go over really well with those in the Golden State.

 
I think not.

And Long Island has been rated as one of the top areas in the country for COVID re-infection.

But it does not stop there.
 
Look, the world we live in likes to live in P-A-N-I-C, and our country has already found the next thing to alarm us, and that is the flu.
 
I have never taken a flu shot, and I probably won’t for this year.
 
I have had the flu, at my count, just once in my life, and that was several years ago, when I caught it from my son, and we watched pro wrestling videos all day to pass the time, which certainly got me back on the right track to recovery.
 
We have been warned that this year’s flu is more virulent, and paired with COVID, it creates a one-two pouch which in certain cases, can be deadly.
 
I have no doubt that that is somewhat true, but for the general population, it is no more virulent than other flus have been, and somehow, we have gotten through about 850,865 strains of the flu during my lifetime, and we will get through this one too.
 
Yes, there are people who are more susceptible to these illnesses than others, and they should take the necessary precautions, which I am sure they have done since COVID, and before it too.
 
But to put the general public into panic mode is wrong, but that is what our government feels the need to do.
 
Lump that in with yet another disease that affects kids only—generally young children—and you get a real trifecta of P-A-N-I-C.
 
As for me, as I have said all along, I continue to believe that these things exist, but we, as a civilization, have gone slightly overboard in our vigilance against them.
 
I have taken three COVID mitigation shots, and at least right now, I don’t plan on taking any more.
 
I think statistics prove that most people have taken at least the first two shots, many the third, and after that, the numbers plummet.
 
And like I said said many, many months ago, these shots have morphed into shots like what we get for the flu, where you take them if you want them and if you don’t want them, you don’t take them.
 
And personally, I will handle this like I do the flu shot, which is not to take it at all but not because I don’t believe it exists, but because, very simply, FOR ME, I don’t think it is necessary.
 
Notice I didn’t say "never" related to the COVID shots, and while I have never taken a flu shot, I won’t say never for those either.
 
My 91-year-old mother has taken a few of the COVID shots and always gets the flu shot, and she got the flu shot this year too.
 
That is good, it is her choice, and she did what was right for her.
 
Funny, when my father was alive, he also took the flu shot regularly every year, but he did get the flu—pr at least what we thought was the flu—a couple of times even with the shot.
 
When I was a baby, I got measles, but although there was a shot for it—fairly new at the time but available—I was too young to get it, and happily, I survived this disease and have never looked back.
 
Now I will tell you that for the first time, I did get the shingles shot a few months ago.
 
I had adult chicken pox several years ago, and I guess that that experience—again which I got from my kids—has stayed with me, so I took the shot this year, and supposedly, it is a one-time shot.
 
But again, it was my choice to get the shot,, not from an edict or panic or anything else.
 
I took care of business—my own business—and I feel good that I got that shot.
 
But again, if you don’t want the shingles shot, you don’t have to get it.
 
And those TV commercials that show literally blazing areas on peoples’ skins who did not get the shingles shot are simply, once again, panic creators, nothiing more.
 
Shingles, like COVID, does exist, but let’s stop being in the P-A-N-I-C mode and move over to the P-R-O-A-C-T-I-V-E mode, and get on with our lives without this constant cloud over our existence.
 
It is time.