@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:15

A friendship strained and winding down. It’s the Covid Vaccination issue in full swing.

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I feel a real strain today about a friend that I want to stop seeing and engaging with. It started back in April because of the covert conversation, because of her absolute conviction that getting the vaccine is not an option, like just no way personal choice. She doubts the science, the whole thing, the whole thing. I've given her a lot of faith over time, and I'm in a place where I can't do it anymore

Sharing my sadness

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@PKBriggs
Sontaia Briggs
@PKBriggs · 2:56

🙏🏾 @DBPardes

Hey, Deborah, good morning. Very early morning for you. Thank you for sharing this. It's this is very hard. This whole situation is very hard. Don't think anybody ever thought we could lose friends over vaccination or not vaccination. Right. But as you said, if something is core to who you are, it's a constant point of friction where there's contention, where there's just no way to be in the same space and be okay, then I don't know
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@barbarakb
Barbara KB
@barbarakb · 2:55

so much to say…

And so it has affected my relationship with them. And that's hard. So I'm here with you to validate what you're saying and to say that that means the relationship with those three people has changed because of how adamant they are about this vaccine. And it's just mind boggling to me. So there you go. You have a great day. Barbara KB signing out
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@omaniblog
Paul OMahony
@omaniblog · 2:26
Now, I'm not trying to say that that makes much difference, but in my normal interactions with people, I don't know anybody who is anti being vaccinated. So I haven't been stretched and challenged like that. Mind you, I didn't also have anybody who was a serious Donald Trump supporter. So I've lived a bit of a charmed life. I don't have anybody who I call a friend whose ideas or whose values are so different from mine that it's a strain. Yeah
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:40

@barbarakb @omaniblog @realbriggster

98% of the time. People are in beds. There are people that are not vaccinated. So I just haven't really been able to get my head around the stories of people who became ill because of their vaccinations and how true those stories are. I don't spend my time looking for those stories. I just hear them. I'm from in this instance, so interesting, weird times. Stay close to the ones you love and just do as good as you can, right
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@dzakyem
Dzakye M
@dzakyem · 2:49

I understand!... Avoiding sensitive topics is key.

I've got that feeling with a person who is quite friendly and so on. But he, for example, is prone to advocate heating his apartment with 20 degrees Celsius every winter, which I find exaggerated and crazy. I think if we want to save energy and look after the environment, we shouldn't burn so much fuel, for example. So I'm intolerant in that respect, I think burning fuel should be prevented. And we would discover some more simplicity and contract with the environment
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@topgold
Bernie Goldbach
@topgold · 1:31

@Blemish @omaniblog entitled people misbehaving

So I wonder if they get sick, should they have to pay for their own treatment? Because it does not make sense that everybody else picks up the tab for careless antisocial behavior. I don't know. I'm an American living in Ireland, so I'll go with flow. But people are acting stupid as they are entitled to do, I guess. Bye
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@barbarakb
Barbara KB
@barbarakb · 3:36

be careful: many silos of folks who are vaccine hesitant

I sort of feel like we just trudged forward. I'm actually really happy that Biden made the announcement that he did. I think it should have been made months ago. That would be my fault towards him. We should have made this back in April or May. We knew this was going to get FDA approval. I mean, it's completely safe vaccine and it's saving lives. Okay. Yeah. So anyway, I just want to clarify that and make that really clear
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@Professor42
Professor Z
@Professor42 · 2:50
I do know that in her situation she has not completely went against it, but she's also being employed by her specialist down the middle of one doctor saying Get it. One doctor is saying, don't so try to consider that when you think about these people should get vaccines and I'm not attacking anybody. I'm just trying to get people to think about other situations and where everything is not going to fit perfectly
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@omaniblog
Paul OMahony
@omaniblog · 5:00
I have had times when I have deliberately decided I'd better listen to the other side. For example, I better listen to some people who might regard as sexist or racist or people who are in favor of Trump or all of those things
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@omaniblog
Paul OMahony
@omaniblog · 3:00
And the other thing is that particularly in relation to social media, I watch how other people interact with other people, and I make decisions based upon how open and kind and generous they are, even if they disagree with somebody. So then now on to the second point, which is about vaccination. Well, there's a couple of basic things about the vaccination. Perhaps I'll put this in a separate swell
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@omaniblog
Paul OMahony
@omaniblog · 5:00
Well, after that communication, which was all about me, and I keep saying to myself, what use is that to tell people all about me. But here's a few facts about vaccinations that I think we'll all agree about. It's not viable to compel people to get vaccinated. I cannot imagine the situation, as I'm sure none of you can, in which all the people who haven't been vaccinated are roped up and vaccinated against their will
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@sudha
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 4:28
My son is not yet twelve years old, so he's not eligible for the vaccine and neither is my daughter. They are both in the age group where they are not eligible for the vaccine yet I also don't send them the public transport to school, which means that I am driving literally 4 hours every day just offering them to school and back. It's a lot of effort as parents we're putting in
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@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:49

@Professor42 @omaniblog @sudha @barbarakb @dzakyem

But we're living at a time right now where we have to take care of the core beliefs that we have and protect those we love and as fiercely as Soda speaks of her family. I speak of those I love, but just the common good of society. I feel like I'm accountable to my neighbors and to the people I pass by. And I don't have such faith in masks. I wear them, but I don't think they're going to protect us always
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