Aged and Compromised, in a pandemic.

 

Aged and Compromised, in a pandemic.

I live in paradise and don’t crave travelling or any other modern temptations. All my working years I managed on less, paid for a pension, and planned for the “golden years”. Now I reside in a little home in the forest on the Canadian Rocky Mountains, in a historical little town that provides what I need. The pension is enough for food and taxes, a working vehicle, and health needs not covered by our Universal Health Care program.

I paid cash for my education, lived modestly, and raised two self-sufficient kids. I took no government assistance like unemployment and regularly donated much more than the taxes consider a write-off and I still do. As I am getting older, I need some help with difficult tasks so I save to pay for it. Never went on a cruise or even visited my birth country. I am a happy Canadian who loves the snow on the mountains and the Alpine meadows in the summer.

Not in my wildest dreams did I consider having to put up with a killing pandemic in my old age, but if it’s here, I am willing to do my best and not only survive but help to curb the spread, even if it’s inconvenient. Took my vaccinations, wore a mask the few times I went out and promoted responsible behaviour. Here I ran into snags.

I live in a world of people who are motivated by reasons that I don’t consider important. Some believe that they can wish the reality to be different and want all of us to do the same. They want to “enjoy life” and if compromised people like me will die as a result, so be it. Others simply resent anyone telling them what to do, regardless of the reasons. I understand both but wish to stay alive and enjoy what I worked and saved for.

The campaign to risk death is not just an opinion expressed by a few but a well-organized and financed effort backed up with lawyers, organized public protests, marketing, and politicians motivated by political donations. For two years, while I sat in what is almost house arrest, I have been racking my brain trying to figure out who has an actual reason to promote against safety and responsible behaviour. I finally got a clue.

It came from a film published after the second world war. It is a 10-minute film called Disabled Holocaust. Apparently, the Nazis before and during the war exterminated disabled people and others who were not contributing to the economy. Sadly, it even included their own maimed soldiers from the fight in Stalingrad. The program was secretive to avoid public outcry. The liberation soldiers exposed it, including Canadians. Fifty years ago, there were still a considerable number of survivors of eugenics.

We may consider this a weird, ugly phenomenon that existed in prewar Germany, but we have our own skeletons to deal with. Eugenics was considered “science” here and in other enlightened countries. Alberta and BC had a program to sterilize humans of lesser value (Handicapped) right until 1972. I remember the news discussing the end of the program and the people who witnessed that it was not always voluntary. I knew a person who was rumoured to have been a victim of the program.

We live in a wonderful country amongst people whom the world calls nice. Yet prewar Germany was known to be a most civilized country and their advanced science still serves us today. NASA became what it is using ex-German scientists. The Russian technological advancements were built around other German inventors. Can nice people be cruel to their own? Ask the veterans who proudly display stickers that say, “Lest we forget.”

I walk away thinking that I may have found a reason why some mystery people are organizing and financing a campaign against vaccinations. COVID is a light flulike sickness for healthy strong people and a natural killer for those who cost money to health care and possibly increase taxes.

What people don’t consider is the reason why we take care of those who need help. It’s as easy as understanding how insurance works. You don’t even have to consider Christian or religious morality. We will all get old someday. Many of us may find ourselves disabled at some point in life. The wealth we accumulate may dissipate fast if some conditions change. Best financial planning is not guaranteed to save us from all possible events in life. If we are thinking as Hitler did, we should consider what his end was like and how he is remembered. Christ advocated helping the needy, not being greedy, and billions of people follow him thousands of years later.

Others may seed weeds amongst our crops. China is keeping itself almost COVID-free. Could they be sabotaging the west? I don’t know, but someone is financing the efforts to fight against vaccinations and to open the economy prematurely again and again. The pandemic would have been just a memory by now if we tried harder and were less concerned about profits. I am not talking about restaurant owners but those with shares in large Pharmaceuticals.

COVID is stealing my retirement years and exposing some negative aspects of our society, perhaps for good reasons. On the other hand, some of what is happening may be a good thing. It is showing how we undervalued some workers who should be paid more. Now, with trucking problems, it shows that we should grow and make things at home and pay what it’s worth. The governments are learning that teachers and nurses are important for the well-being of society and the economy. We are learning that care homes shouldn’t be a revenue generator but necessary social service.

Below our gaze, there is a new generation. For the first time, the young are teaming up with the old going against the dividing forces for no less than a better world for all.

What happens when safety and freedom conflict?

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