I recently responded to a tweet by Scott Morefield. Before responding to the tweet, I had never heard of Scott before, but for some reason his tweet made me respond about information I had regarding a COVID outbreak in a workplace. While his tweet had a political motivation to it- (and politics is something I mostly avoid) my response was simply life motivated. Here is his tweet and my response:

The activity that followed my response was the most I have ever experienced on Twitter. The likes, replies, re-tweets and responses to those tweets, left me with a lot to follow should I care to. I followed the activity because it was mostly positive and informative. I appreciated watching real people, share real experiences, about a topic that has dominated our lives for over two years. I appreciated the responses were without pointing fingers, blaming someone, or the emotional tyranny that often keeps individual truths hidden.

Scott Morefield’s tweet helped remind me about the importance of healthy communication from wider circles. While his tweet had a political background, my reply, and the activity after, took politics out, and let the real-world in.

We need the time to come when facts and experiences help science battle the disease instead of politics. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. If we keep allowing this disease to be a political battle, then the answers and the real-world will continue to be harder to find. Political battles are filled with misinformation and agendas, and our lives need and deserve better than what we are getting.

I was vaccinated in September, and to the best of my knowledge I have never had Covid. My life is also very secluded. I work from home and have had a sick family member to care for, so my exposure to the public is incredibly limited. My oldest son has had Covid, and then was vaccinated, and tested positive again yesterday. My daughter’s workplace had six positive cases as of Friday, and all were vaccinated. I don’t know if we would be worse off without the vaccine, but death rates are higher, and hospitals are full even with it. What this tells me is that the science is too immature for anyone to makes decisions about your health over you. I think your life, needs, and any comorbidities you may have, should help individuals make the decision that is best for them. I also think we need to listen to each other’s stories without thinking our experience over-rules their story. Instead, we should be learning from each other and supporting each other in this battle that is far from over. I hope more of us start doing just that.