Are you going to take the vaccine?

[LeafieGreens]

My directness in speech can come across as unkind/uncaring - but for me, if I care I don't prevaricate or sugar coat - I may not be correct - but I do offer my honesty - because there is love in honesty. If I didn't care I wouldn't make the effort to engage when my heart calls me to post.

So my love and respect for everyone here is actual. It's why I have difficulties interacting here because I love a lot - but tone is missing and my words are blunt.

I had/have no intention to blame America for the situation in India - I don't know how you get that - and no 'us vs them' rhetoric.

Pre your mention of guidelines (not after) I mentioned being in Australia, criticised America and mentioned a current catastrophe unfolding in India.
No one on this thread bears any responsibility for what is unfolding in India.

(The only criticism I place is that anyone from any country who refuses to wear a mask and refuses to stand 1.5m from otherselves is directly risking their own and others health at the moment - in certain locales.)

The frustration I expressed about the US is decades long - it's felt by probably at least 2/3d's of the population of my country and of other countries,
It doesn't mean my country is without flaws, and I have much compassion for America/ns.

It is very hard to see pages of threads  with mostly white male Americans putting forth theories while as they type people worldwide are gasping for breath from a disease/variant involved in these theories.

lastly, you are a very interesting person Y - I think you have a lot of significance for B4th - but I also noticed that you joined B4th with an 'I have a higher authority/access to higher info - but I'm not allowed to tell people' vibe that I find a bit offputting at times

But here is not the place to discuss that - I only mention it - because you have reacted strongly to me being assertive, when you are also very proclamatory, assertive and authoritative in tone yourself.

If it's any help - you are loved, not alone, and I respect you.

Relax, I'm relatively new here and just another white American male, so feel free to disregard all of this -- but I appreciate the injection of logic into a sensitive subject with much confusion and fear around it. I hesitated more than a few times replying at all to any of the COVID threads on this board. Because of fear, people's responses and posts are distorted. Fear then creates a need for information (lack) and that need can often overwhelm logic and then one is posting conspiracy theories as truth because of that feeling of lack.

I agree that we need to be conscious that there is a ton of catalyst being created through the trauma of death and loss from COVID. But also remember that there are greater forces at play here. Those exiting this life through the pandemic are accepting the exit points. The ones left behind get to work through the catalyst of trauma and loss -- this can lead to vast spiritual growth and development of entire families. The divine game is being played out and we are all playing our roles. I have no doubt that there was a need for your point of view and your well constructed arguments. They benefit all of us. They benefit me, at least.

This very thread is a great opportunity to become aware of one's own emotional response to coronavirus and the vaccines. The ego can easily become attached to the story of what appears to be going on -- when we encounter those with opposing views -- well there is a great opportunity for growth. Can both sides share their contentions without egos becoming attached? Not when there is a large cloud of fear around the subject matter.

When I post here, I like to keep that Law of Free Will in mind. You can tell someone to get vaccinated because it is a service to others action that can help benefit the whole and get society to herd immunity faster. But what if the opposing view is that these vaccines are new technology that was rushed through without adequate testing and little knowledge about potential long term effects from the behemoths of the pharmaceutical industry that have less-than-noble histories at best?

So what can we do? I feel that the best one can do is present their side of things as they see them and leave it at that. How others choose to respond is their business, not mine. I don't have to get attached to how they respond. Of course this is easier said than done.

Just like when I see a post about that already-redacted Stanford study that supposedly said "masks don't work," then I know it's garbage and I can disregard it. It is also my choice to not argue with others who are so lost in these distortions, as I feel that those who choose to see reality that incorrectly aren't going to listen to my logic anyway. Conversely, I honor your choice to inject some logic and reason into this thread and give you much respect for sticking your neck out.

Also, I'm an American and I can tell you that I have shed more than a few tears over the state of distortion and confusion occurring in my country. But there are those of the light here who are doing all they can to outshine the darkness.

What I am saying here, is that I hope you don't go to "read-only" mode. Because I appreciate your voice and feel that you have much to share.