Outcomes

​Outcomes
This morning they talked about having discovered a variant of the Delta variant called Delta Plus.  It is said to be even more transmissible than Delta.
I am getting to know someone, and I was surprised to learn they are not going to be vaccinated.   They cited a photo of someone powerful purportedly being vaccinated and a second photo which purportedly showed a close up of the empty, needleless, syringe.
This person believes what he saw.  For me it raises a few questions.  I ask myself why is the second photo believed to be real?  Why is it only the government is seen to lie?
I must admit I am getting the vaccine.  I have had my first shot.  If I get covid I want to minimize my chances of dying, and  I would rather not be a spreader.  I always believed killing was reserved for enemy combatants and not innocent bystanders.
It got me thinking about conspiracy theories.  The title itself to me is a giveaway.  It is a theory and the thing about theories is they are unproven.  For sure there are a multitude of conspiracies and misinformation out there.  There are flat earth people.  Those that believe the moon landing was a Hollywood hoax.   Those that believe Jesus never rose from the dead.
The thing about each is there is enough proof the opposite is true to the one who honestly investigates a matter.  For some it requires less effort to hold to a lie than to investigate the truth.  For others it is a case of wanting to believe something and no amount of evidence to the contrary will sway a person.
Merril and I visited a community that was known as an anti vax place.  A little girl was being pushed about in a pram.  She was as sick as a dog.  She had hooping cough.  We thought that girl should be away from everyone as she is bad for others.
For me everyone is entitled to believe as they choose, and no one has a right to force their beliefs on another.  That to me is the key.  But there are people that hold to something that puts me at risk.  There is no doubt many reasons why it is justified in the propagators mind, but the bottom line to me it can be untrue, and actions arising are uncaring.  I have spoken with those who left their country of origin because they wanted to remain free to choose.
I have mentioned it before, but it is a bit of a mantra for me. “It is not how close to danger you can go, but how far you can stay away from it that counts.”  I know it can be over the top but I will not stand in front of a car before it is moving to say goodbye to someone.  I have heard of two cases where someone lost their life due to standing behind a car and it doing something freakish.  My thinking is, “if I am not there it cannot happen.”  That is not to say something else freakish will not get me.  But I do know it will not be that one.
They say death is the absence of life.  People may not have ceased to be as a result of my actions, but I know there have been times my actions have not brought life to another.
I am big on outcomes.  Some things I dismiss because there is no proof, and other things I ask myself, “what would be the outcome if everyone held to what I espouse?”