Two Weeks

Tomorrow my dad will have been gone two weeks. It definitely is not getting easier, in fact it still has not totally sunk in that I will not see him again. The one positive thing is that my mind is filled with mostly happy memories of him. I was scared that my only memories would be of his final years fighting COPD, dementia, and then him dying alone.  Small blessings I guess. 

My dad did die alone though, as are a lot of other people during this pandemic. Listening to people talk about being judged about their personal decisions or hearing people put a spin on the situation by trying to make what they are doing to be about freedom and censorship boggles my mind. Just because people do not agree with you does not mean they are not listening to you. However, you cannot demand that someone respect your decision or your point of view. Respect must be earned. Your personal opinions do not trump science and proven facts. 

My dad died alone and he did not have to die alone. He died alone because this province cannot do what needs to be done to control this pandemic. We are blessed to live in a free society. Those freedoms come with a price. That price is responsibility. Look out for everyone else and everyone else should be looking out for you. We are in this together. Inconvenience for the good of your community is not the suppression of your rights. Surely we all understand this simple concept. 

We need to get it together and start doing what is right. People are dying unnecessarily. People, like my dad, are dying alone. 

“When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.” — Edith Hamilton (1867 - 1963)