In the absence of American unity, we return to trust
As I recently pushed a cart through the new Market 32 supermarket in search of luxuriously large Honeycrisp apples, I asked myself why I wasn’t wearing a mask, and neither were any of the people around me, including employees who had contact with customers all day long.
Without even thinking about it, we have come to trust each other.
I don’t know how many of my fellow customers in the supermarket that day were vaccinated – CDC statistics tell me the vaccination rate for this county is 67 percent overall, with more than 80 percent for those over 65 – but when I had to look it up on the CDC website, I realized the number didn’t matter. The trust between us is deeper than vaccination statistics. We are, without thinking about it, trusting one another to deal with disease responsibly and to stay home if we’re sick, reducing transmission of COVID in public places so the rest of us can shop without having to worry about it.
Then I realized the word “trust” hadn’t passed my lips in so long, I couldn’t recall the last time I said it. The political divisions in this country have us looking at each other as if from opposing camps. Donald Trump uses words like “enemy” and “evil” to describe Democrats, and we’re not much better, with phrases like “lunatic fringe” spilling from my lips and keyboard regularly.
This county is part of rural, conservative Pennsylvania. Pickup trucks with loud mufflers go down Broad Street flying large Trump flags, and I pass people wearing MAGA hats on the street not daily, but often enough to take notice when I do. I saw a Trump flag on a pole bolted to the bed of a pickup the last time I parked the car in the Walmart lot. The person who owned that truck may have been one of those in line behind or in front of me at the cash register waiting to pay. But I had to conjure the memory to come up with it, because I didn’t think about it at the time, even though the chances of the Trump flag-waver being vaccinated against COVID were probably slim to none.
I’m not sure what accounts for the unspoken trust I’m seeing and feeling around me.
This is an excerpt from my weekly Salon column. To read the rest, follow this link:
My neighbor, who I otherwise adore and chat with often, finally confided to me a year ago that she's never been vaccinated for Covid, and doesn't take any other vaccinations either. I was shocked and stepped away from her because I was in her small house! (And up until then, and now, I have somehow remained Covid free.)
I said to her, "we've talked about Covid and vaccinations before. Why did you not tell me then that you are not vaccinated?"
Her reply: "I didn't want you to judge me."
Omg. She is older than me, 70 or more, and she gives massages FFS, mostly to older people, in her home!
I just have to wonder how many people she has made sick or even killed over the past few years by passing along the virus, even if she remained unaffected. Which I'm not sure about because she would probably think it was just a bad flu.
Another nice neighbor, who gave birth to her toddler during the height of the pandemic, also told me she wasn't vaccinated because she didn't want to poison her child through her milk. OMFG.And she has another on the way.
But MAGA beliefs really scare me.
I wear a mask when I go to any store and will continue to do so. No, I do not trust other people to be vaccinated. As a retired California Licensed Vocational Nurse, I believe in science and vaccinations.