Seeing and hearing all the kicking and screaming about our right to choose to not put on masks takes me back to the ‘70s and ‘80s when a similar hue and cry arose from the laws that imposed the wearing of seat belts and random breath testing. The authorities had taken away our god given right to get thrown from an out-of-control car or to get blotto and drive till we killed someone, including our mates, or own family members sometimes.
Before those intolerable losses of liberty were imposed, road carnage sadly accounted for 3,800 deaths annually in Australia, and countless more serious injuries and unimaginable sadness for associated mates and family members. Forced seatbelt wearing and more heavily policed and penalised drink driving helped to curb the pain and misery to the current 1,200 deaths annually. Still too many, we know, but risk takers and lawbreakers unfortunately continue to speed and kill themselves and others.
Helping rationalise this conversation about wearing masks or getting vaxxed, let’s do the math. Straight extrapolation of the 1970 road carnage figures shows, over 50 years, a reduction in deaths amounting to 2,600 lives saved per year. That equates to a minimum of 65,000 lives having been saved by these ‘liberty depriving’ measures. We have learned to live with these Big Brother-imposed measures to ensure we save the lives of countless mums, dads, sons, daughters, and mates.
So, suck it up all you princes and princesses, do the right thing, follow the ‘Big Brother’ rules, wear your mask, check in with the QR codes and get vaxxed so more of us, our kids and our mates can still be around in 50 years’ time enjoying life, which is everyone’s birthright.
Beautifully put – I don’t love wearing a mask, but I’ll do it, to protect my community. I don’t love needles, but I’ll have one, for the same reason. I’ve had a bad local reaction in the past to a tetanus booster (dead arm for months), but I had Asta Zeneca anyway.
If you don’t have fat on your arm, you can ask them to maybe not put it quite so deeply in & to inject the contents s l o w l y … I’m really susceptible to this and had a dead arm for 2 days before I could move it at all, and it ached for 2 weeks after. A hot pack & anti-inflammatories in advance, & after, can help, too. I’ll be way more prepared for my second dose. Any injection directly into the muscle can cause trauma to the muscle.
I’m a bit disappointed not to have read more about this issue, lately. My doctor was a bit shocked about how, on the adds, nurses/doctors are seen to be practically CHUCKING the needle into the arm.
I’m just sharing my story to help others.
Thanks for that, Sarah.