a flight full of hope

Posted on 13 Dec 2020 by Melba Christie at Poemattic

Today, we will witness the deployment of the long awaited vaccine to hopefully save the lives of many Americans. The mission to get scientists to find a vaccine that would be safe, effective and accepted has been a successful endeavor. We need to be grateful to science; we need to show respect for the knowledge of epidemiology experts. We have them remedy that will finally get us and the whole world back on track. There is probably a lot more to be done because we may need to refine the vaccine if other similar viruses hit us. This all happened so very rapidly. Some say that faster than for any other vaccine or drug developed before in our history.

I am fascinated by how quickly beautiful minds came together to meet the challenge of this deadly virus. They say that of course there will be side effects. It may not be viable for some folks to get vaccinated for now, like for example, pregnant women and children under the age of sixteen may not get vaccinated now. But the hope is that the distribution will be equitable and fair.

We need to keep hanging on to hope for total recovery on all levels. But in the meantime, and while the vaccine is able to reach all of us, we need to continue to be wise. We must continue to use masks, social distance and practice healthy and logical measures like washing our hands. We can do this.

I am so grateful for the vaccine. However, I have a Hanukkah and Christmas wish. I want there to be a WARP speed investment to help all those suffering from the horrible side effects of the pandemic. Our economy needs a transfusion to revive it. People are suffering especially children. Congress and the Senate need to work to get a stimulus package together. Show empathy please. It has not gone out of fashion yet. Enough is enough of the selfish motivations that ruled the last few years. Get to work please.

Attached to my wish is the wish that scientists, big and powerful PHRMA, philanthropists, get together and start a mission to get cures for other deadly diseases like Cancer, diabetes and other disabling and potentially deadly diseases that have plagued us for decades. We have made some advances but most of them are also very profitable for some folks. It seems to me that sometimes not enough energy and hurricane force speed has been applied to finding cures and instead we have conformed to receiving maintenance via poisonous drugs, submitting our bodies humiliating testing procedures and accepting one size fits all type of therapies.

Therefore, while I am grateful and hopeful for this vaccine for COVID 19. I want more people to ask themselves why can’t the same be done for other illnesses. I want us to question why medicines have to be so expensive in our country? Ask yourself why science is not more of a priority subject in our education system, so we end up with the very best medical professional, scientists and researchers.

And as the famous chef Jose Andres expressed during a recent CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, we need to make feeding all people our priority. I remember the book, We Are What We Eat. We should have a way of making sure that our people are educated about diet and healthy lifestyles to keep our bodies as illness free as possible. Let us all think about it as a common good for all. The fast food industry must be scrutinized, more investments should be made to make out food healthier. We must support farmers and make sure huge amounts of produce are not dumped. We must address climate change. Only education, and a healthy and honest conversation about our collective survival as a society will effect the change we need. The United States has always been the leader at so many levels. Let us continue to follow paths that will help us regain that status. Do you not see how we are all connected? God bless America.

To all my friends on WordPress, my readers, and everyone out there, stay safe and God bless.