During Randy's 11 month battle with esophageal cancer, we had to continuously take precautions in an effort to keep him safe. Things varied almost daily. One example is the fact that during round 2 of chemotherapy, Randy's white blood cell count was low and we had to protect him. There was no going out and if he NEEDED to, he must wear a mask and no touching anything. Lacking white blood cell counts makes it very difficult for you to fight infections. For about a week and a half, we were pumping the frankincense just like we did in round one in an effort to boost the white blood cell counts. Randy didn't really leave the house. When he did, he wore a mask and gloves. One Sunday, Randy really wanted to attend our church service but I expressed concerns. We were not out of the woods as far as his counts went. Randy was rather persistent this particular Sunday, whereas other Sundays, he let my concerns stand. I told him that if we go, he had to wear a mask and he couldn't touch ANYTHING. No shaking hands and no touching the bibles, no touching the attendance cards and no giving hugs. Hands OFF! He agreed and he did it. Randy understood my concerns and he did what I asked. Likewise, others understood the precautions that we needed to take to protect Randy. I believe that deep down, we all want to protect our loved ones.
Why am I telling you this? Because this has been at the forefront of my mind as of late. It has been on my mind because I continue to see posts from "friends" where they state they refuse to wear these masks and how they don't want to give up their "rights", "freedoms", or "liberties" in an effort to protect the lives of others. It's hard for me to understand this when people were so understanding about protecting Randy. How do we go from understanding that someone is more susceptible to an illness and protecting them to a refusal to protect others that are just like my late husband? This isn't an infringement on your rights, freedoms or liberties! I don't know what's so difficult to understand that wearing a mask isn't just about protecting you but about protecting others from you since you can be asymptomatic which is a huge part of this. This is about protecting you AND others! How have we become a society that roots for the demise of others? How have we become a country that is willing to bury people just so that you can go shopping, get your hair cut, get your nails done, go swimming or watch sports?! Do you understand how selfish that is?
To me, I feel that part of the problem is the fact that people don't seem to understand what it is like to actually lose someone that shakes you to your core. I have lost many in my life but my husband is that one that has truly shaken me in more ways than you can comprehend. I have implored others to consider what it would be like to lose your person. That one person that your world revolves around... how would you feel if you lost that person? If you had to stand behind a podium and deliver a heart wrenching eulogy to them? If you could no longer hear their voice, get a hug, give a kiss or even hold their hand? I just feel like you don't understand how difficult it is to lose your person because if you did, you wouldn't moan and groan about wearing a mask! And to be fair, you wear condoms to protect from STDs... wear a mask to protect yourself and others from a deadly virus! It's not a hard ask.
I hope you can understand where my harsh feelings towards this come from. If Randy were alive today, I would be scared out of my mind and fearful that I wouldn't be able to keep him safe. I would be terrified of losing him to Covid-19 while battling cancer. Can you imagine fighting like hell for your life but ultimately being taken out by a virus that we are struggling to contain due to lack of cooperation of our citizens? It's why my heart goes out to those that are battling cancer and their caretakers. These cancer fighters can no longer have their support system present during their treatments or during hospital stays. That support system has been virtually eliminated! The caretakers are doing everything possible to keep their person safe from this! This is a very difficult time for them. But this doesn't just stop with cancer. There are many illnesses that make someone high risk. I, myself, am considered high risk.
So when you sit there and say you won't wear that mask, you are saying that the lives of people like my husband, my friends and my family do not matter.
I truly hope that it doesn't take watching a casket be lowered into the ground for you to understand how serious this is and how little we are asking of you.
You wanted to stay home instead of going to work!
You wanted to watch TV and movies all day!
You wanted to stay home and just "relax"!
You have been given the time to do the things around your house.
You have been given the time to spend quality time with your family.
You have the technology to stay in contact with your loved ones-- in previous global pandemics, they did not have the internet, Facebook, twitter, zoom, FaceTime, etc. You have blessings that you have in front of you!!
What "freedoms" will you have if you are 6 feet under? You want to protest for doing what is being asked of you only makes you in lockdown/quarantine longer. You even have a rising number of protesters that are developing covid19!
At this point, I am respectfully requesting that you stop and consider the prospect of your loved ones developing this deadly virus. I'm asking you to consider how you intend to keep your loved ones safe.
If you were so willing to protect my husband, please protect those like him. It's why this attitude hurts so much. I feel as though if he were alive, you wouldn't care about his life or his safety. With that, I made the comment on social media that if you aren't willing to wear a mask, please delete me because I cannot handle the complete disregard for the lives of others. You can choose to not care if you live or die but the moment you choose to put the lives of others at risk, I lose all respect for you. I lose that respect because you don't seem to have respect for others and their right to live.
Please don't be selfish. Please think carefully and please respect the lives of others.
I'm asking you to not be selfish and reckless because you do not want to be on my side of it. There's nothing glamorous about being a widow. There is nothing glamorous about losing parents. There is nothing glamorous about losing grandparents, children, siblings, niblings, friends, etc. And contrary to the "request" of our current administration, I will never offer up any of my loved ones as a sacrifice to our economy. I'd do anything to keep those people safe which is the only reason I am writing this. I am merely asking you to take those that you love dearly into consideration and how you would feel to lose them. If you don't wish to lose them, wear that mask. Wear it so that no one has to lose their person. Stay home. Ride this out. Please.
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