If we have learned anything since March 2020, it is this: We need each other. The pandemic has revealed in large and small ways that our society and our very lives are an interdependent web tethered to one another.
I need Bridgette, the Acme grocery cashier, to help me get food from the store to my table and sustain my family. I need Katie, an RN at UH Portage, to care for me, or any of my family who show up sick or wounded. I need Gary, our garbage collector, to haul away all that my family cannot use or recycle. I need Pat, our children’s first grade teacher, to educate my son and daughter, so that they can become their best selves and I can return to work outside our home. I need to slow down as I pass Mike, the construction worker, who is repairing the road in my city so I can get to where I’m going.
You need me to raise my kids to be good citizens in their future capacities, and you need me to serve you when your family decides to spend some of your hard-earned dollars on a meal out.
We need each other.
Since we need each other, we need to value one another. Every one of us deserves the safest path out of this pandemic, especially those of us who remain unvaccinated and vulnerable. Covid is an elusive virus, and the pandemic has more twists and turns for us over the next year. These last couple weeks and even days have revealed many foreboding signs that the extremely transmissible Delta variant of Covid, and perhaps others, are on the rise in the unvaccinated. We can value and protect our kids and folks who are still getting vaccines by wearing masks indoors and getting vaccinated as quickly as possible.
Yes, we are tired and weary after 18 months of this pandemic, but our race against this virus is just a few more months away, until the most vulnerable among us can cross the finish line. The marathon is not over until all the young and precious kids in our communities have had the opportunity to receive vaccines. I need you, and you need me. We need to get to the other side of this pandemic together. Please join me by getting the shot(s) and masking up indoors for a little while longer. We can do it!
With gratitude and sincere hope,
Morgan Tipton, your Portage County neighbor
The Portager publishes a range of opinions from the community. To submit a letter to the editor, write to [email protected].