Read It Again. And Again

A few days ago, I came across the above post on Facebook. My initial reaction was the same as most of you. I was aghast! Force me to take a vaccine? No way! How about my rights? That is so wrong on all accounts! I added my comments to reflect my feelings, then a friend replied and told me to read it again. I did. And I felt silly. Then I decided to post it on my own timeline so that my friends could be silly too.

At first it was funny to read the comments as people worked themselves up into a lather, and even when I commented that they should read it again, they were too far in to see clearly. I was almost embarrassed for them. I even received a couple private messages from friends letting me know that they stood in solidarity with me for forced Covid-19 vaccinations but were too scared to say in online. Thanks guys.

I was on a roll now and drunk or high off of this snowballing disaster, so what did I do? I shared it on my Instagram page too. Bam! Within minutes, or was it seconds? I got my first comment. And another. And another. Most were comments against the forced vaccinations, except for a 12-year-old girl who saw it for what it was. More on that later. Now where did they get this forced vaccination idea from? Ok, seeing that I too was tricked, let me word that differently. Where did we get this vaccination idea from? The post clearly had nothing to do with Covid-19.

I then got my family to read it and tell me what they thought. My 13-year-old read it to himself and looked at me as if to say that’s crazy! ‘Do you agree that it should be forced, son?’ He replied like a true teenager. One word. “No“. “What should not be forced?” Again one word, “Vaccination'”

My wife was next. Honey, what do you think of this? Do you agree? I asked while showing her the meme. She read it slowly and digested it. Or so I thought, until she said in her assertive voice that signals she would have no argument on the matter. “Of course not! That’s crap! They can’t force anyone to take a vaccine.”

My 11 and 12-year-olds were next. Pay close attention here. My 11-year-old was lounging in bed watching television and enjoying his Spring break. I interrupted him by saying, “Hey buddy, what do you think of this?” He read it to himself and looked at me and said, “Well yes, why not?” I was not sure if he meant he was agreeing to forced vaccinations or vacations so I asked him, “Why do you agree?” His reply was not what I expected. “Well of course you guys need some time away from all this.” Well I’ll be damned!

At the dinner table, I poked my phone in the face of my 12-year-old son, the last of my test subjects. Do you agree with this? He read it out loud and looked perplexed. What is it? Read it, let me know what you think. Do you agree or not? He still looked perplexed. What I should note here is that when he read it aloud, he said ‘vacation’ and not ‘vaccination’. They want to force you to take vacation? I don’t get it. That’s enough son.

I am no doctor but I was able to conclude that the reason why the adults were all up in arms over something that we misread or misinterpreted was due to the fact that we have these preconceived notions in our heads about many things and anything that could be a trigger could easily set us off and blind us to seeing the real picture or getting the true story or seeing past someone’s race or physical appearance. Given our present situation, the word mandatory is our trigger and by the time we get to the word ‘vacation’ our minds are already made up and we think we know where the statement is going so we see ‘vaccination’ because yes, we already have it in our minds.

Young children have innocent minds that have not had enough experiences to develop these preconceived ideas or bias. That is why we always say children are not born racist. They are like a blank slate without chalk dust residue. They see things exactly how they are presented and accept them for what they are. Nothing more, nothing less.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the many instances where we just need to read it again. And again. If you still don’t get it, you just might need a forced vacation.