My left arm hurts, right up at the shoulder.
Not a real big deal, at its worst it’s about a 2 on a scale of 1-10. Speaking of that scale, it’s sort of like the system guys use among themselves when talking about women. There are no 10s.
I have finally convinced my wife not to say her pain is a 10. To me a 10 in terms of pain is something that could not possibly be any worse.
A few examples:
If you’re on fire, that’s a 10.
If you’re being consumed by wild animals, that’s a 10.
And maybe, if you’re undergoing an amputation without benefit of anesthesia, that’s a 10.
Anything else is just a variation of “owies.”
If you’re quick, you may already have guessed that my pain is the result of someone sticking a syringe into my upper arm and giving me the first of two doses of the Moderna vaccine. I’ll get the second does in four weeks.
According to the Washington Post, I’m one of 44,500,000 Americans who have had at least one dose of a vaccine. I qualified to be part of the prioritized group by being 71 years old, and while I was never really scared of getting the Coronavirus, this makes it even less likely.
Why wasn’t I worried? Well, I only leave the house when necessary, and I always wear masks and practice social distancing. I know that doesn’t make me completely safe, but it does make me safer.
Are we approaching the point of being safe? Certainly not. If fewer than 50 million Americans have been vaccinated, that still leaves about 285 million who haven’t. And the scary part of it is that there are tens of millions who say they’ve going to refuse the virus.
I simply cannot comprehend that. I was born in 1949, and until 1954, maybe the greatest threat to children was polio. A vaccine beat that. It also beat smallpox, tetanus, measles and all sorts of other things, including a problem older people have — shingles.
It would be one thing to say it’s their personal business to refuse the vaccine,
Fine, as long as they stay away from the rest of us.
As for me, I’ll get the second shot March 23rd and then I’ll keep on masking and social distancing.
I’m not just doing it for myself.
Call it taking one for the team.
Hey, if our boy “Tup” Pence can do it, so can we.