So I am going to share something with all of you that will make half of you stop reading my blog ever again, I am not vaccinated. Earlier in the year, I got COVID-19 and this was before the vaccine was FDA-approved. By the time I wanted to get it, even before approval, I was advised not to because I already had COVID and natural immunity was supposedly better. I though I would get it anyways, I was advised against it back then.
Then, as 2021 went on, the vaccine hysteria took hold as the war on the unvaccinated started. No jab? Good luck trying to go to a gym or eating indoors in places like NYC. It’s weird, I wanted to get the vaccine so bad when it first came out, so bad. I wanted to be the first in line to get vaccinated before most of my friends since you know, it carried some bragging rights back then and you just wanted that peace of mind knowing you won’t catch COVID. I had already gotten it but still wanted to be on top of things.
I won’t walk you through my journey of how the way society reacted towards the unvaccinated made me sick to my stomach to the point where I did not want to get vaccinated. Due to my company’s policy change in the spring, I moved out of NYC to a state where the governor is against vaccine mandates. At the same time, like a month later, we bring in new leadership who are passionate Democrats that hate Trump. Long-story short, doesn’t matter if you are remote or an office employee, they were so excited about Biden’s order that they said everyone must be fully-vaccinated by December 8th or lose their job.
And here the story starts.
I have been at my company for a few years and built up a lot of great relationships. While people came and went, I stuck around and now, I am up for yet another pay bump at the start of next year. In many ways, I have lost my passion for my current role but I have to be practical here. No job also means no more monthly contributions to the 401k, no health/vision/dental insurance, and no cash flow. While I have saved up for a few months of living expenses, this is not an ideal situation.
Sure, there are religious and medical exemptions that can be attempted but good luck getting them passed is what a few coworkers told me.
While I was enthusiastic about getting vaccinated, reading about potential side effects as well as the smug attitude from the other side, has caused me to seriously reconsider since I do have natural immunity (which they do not care for in my situation). Given the amount of disrespect, coercion, and smugness from a sizable amount of people who are pro-vaxx, I said I wouldn’t cave. When NYC implemented the mandates, I told the city to kiss my ass and headed over to a more free state. I was against getting vaccinated but now, this has been about more than just getting the vaccine. If I refuse, then I put it all on the line and lose something I have spent so many years of building up.
Before I arrived at my current company, I was a job-hopper that could never find his footing. At my current company, I came and found my footing and grew a successful career. In many ways, it is not the company I fell in love with when I first joined and days go by when I wonder what I am even doing at my job. The old me would have just quit while the new me has been more committed. When you have built up something great, you do not want to leave it.
I go back and forth with my decision every day.
Just get the jab I tell myself, get the jab and you can still have cashflow coming in. If you want to really piss them off, then just get the jab and after that, stop taking work seriously. Do the bare minimum and make them have to fire you because then at least you get severance. I feel guilty of feeling like this as someone who has taken a lot of passion and pride in his work. What’s even scarier is that what if there are many others out there who are giving in due to coercion but afterwards, approach work with the same attitude? Scary to think that we could have a large mass of employees doing just this.
It’s not so easy to hold up your principles when money is on the line and your job is threatened.
Now I know why the wealthy and even powerful politicians bend their beliefs and what they initially got into their career for. When lots of money and stable future for you and your loved ones is on the line, it tests just how much faith you have in your beliefs. You don’t care as much about defying the pro-vaxx scumbags who turn their noses up at everyone and act holier than thou because they got a vaccine
Now, I am having to almost empathize with politicians that become corrupt, just how much money and a promise of a good life can bend so many of your beliefs. At the same time, I have a lot of respect for the cops and nurses who are quitting their jobs because of the mandates, the amount of courage that must take. No cashflow coming in and feeling like majority of the world might be against you, it is a testament to how strong some people are with their beliefs.
The question I ask more than anything else is who is coming to save us from this madness?
I am not a very political guy but it is worth noting that the party in-charge in the US has ruled with almost little to no opposition. Historians who study strategy will be in awe at just how powerful the party in power has been and how it has governed almost unopposed when pushing these mandates. Opponents on the other side are dumb-founded, naive, and losing battle after battle. Sure, the Southwest story does make you smile a bit and realize others are trying to fight back but without the success one would envision. Battles won against the mandates are far and few, we can only wonder for how long men like De Santis and Abbot can hang in there.
You hear about what is going on in Australia for example and know that it is not that far off from coming to US soil. After all, if they really wanted to, I am left asking who could really stop them. If they wanted to implement a nationwide mandate on a proof of vaccination in order to buy groceries, buy a home, own an apartment, and drive from state to state, who is going to stop them? I can’t think of any force in the US right now that can for sure stop this from happening.
The last place I want to be is having to get the vaccine anyways 6 months down the road, despite my state having a governor who is vocal about mandates, and now being unemployed as well when I could have had the jab while saving my job. Say I do end up being the guy that resists, what good does it do when majority of the country has decided to comply and give in?
You wonder what really matters and what is worth losing.
Take the jab, compromise on your principles and likely risk a side effect as people do sometimes have adverse reactions from the vaccines.
Refuse the jab, lose everything you have worked out, lose health insurance, and lose your cashflow.
Something has to give, in the end, it seems as if only we can save ourselves.
Millennial Bachelor 