Sylvia shawcross
This was a very difficult opinion to write because there are many people I love who have been vaccinated and I don’t want to be the one in any way to upset or put fear into them. I was reluctant to publish this but having just watched Piers Morgan being interviewed by Triggernometry I felt the time might be now.
I repeat that I am no expert and this is only an opinion and if you disagree with me or call me crazy or even hate me, I will still love you. We are all doing the best that we can. The pressing question is no longer who is right or who is wrong but how do we find a way to care about each other in solidarity in a world that needs that from us now.
One pressing reality we all are facing right now is the dawning realization by some mainstream sources that the “vaccine” was neither safe nor effective. Nothing I say here about this argument is new but are opinions gathered in one place to contemplate.
I am not a medical expert. I have today the same questions I had three years ago. If I asked them today and researched the answers I would conclude the same things:
- Why are the drug companies given liability protection for this particular medication?
- Why is it called a “vaccine” when in fact it is a brand-new technology that is completely different to what we understood vaccines to be?
- And how can it be said that they are safe and effective when in fact they could not know this at the time at all?
Those three questions remain for all to ask. And always the usual question about anything in “this” world—follow the money, who profits?
I leave the reader to ask and answer those questions for themselves. They are not complicated questions. If you have the courage to ask them. Or you can simply ignore them as most people are wont to do. And you may conclude things completely different from others. In three years since it started that might be possible. Things e.g. such as the definition of a “vaccine” has been changed in this time to include this brand new technology. Many such things we thought we knew are no longer what they were in order to suit what is to be.
The window of time in which we might ask these questions has been narrowing swiftly.
But it is this dawning realization that all might not be what was hoped for by some that we are now contending with. These “vaccines” have not been effective either for prevention or spread and were not entirely safe at all. That data is now undeniable. (See stats coming out of Japan and Israel among others e.g.) And what we are now dealing with is the absolute devastation of the divisiveness that occurred.
There are even more terrible things to consider but this is the one presenting itself more urgently in the public eye. Broken families, friends, communities that in fear turned on the “other” egged on by authority figures we had never had reason to distrust before. Draconian measures that appear to have been quite unnecessary but were devastating. The virus itself politicized for no reason. Always the fear. And fear always precedes anger. And that is the optimism I have. Odd as that may seem.
The fear was simply concern. The fear from both sides. The anger from both sides was actually well-intended by most and it is this we must concentrate on. Certainly for some there was selfish intent on either taking or not taking the vaccine but for most the arguments were about safety of loved ones. That is what we must remember. No one gets vindicated here because losing people you love is hell; whether you believed it was the vaccine or not taking the vaccine that would save them. And so, we can say, for the majority of the population the motives were good. Do we hold on to this? I am only asking. I cannot say.
But I can say with certainty, that out of that fear, motivated by love as it might have been by most average humans, grew something terribly ugly. Something well-fostered and nurtured by those who wanted it to happen. Something so very ancient and awful in the human condition, in even the soul of humans: we isolated a group of people we did not agree with and we accepted and even participated in their persecution. Because that is what we were told to do by authority figures. Because we were afraid and we cannot reason in a state of fear. Because it is easy to blame and judge and hate. If it is socially acceptable. If it is, after all for the common good.
But it wasn’t. Not at all. As it turns out. And sadly, even though I speak of the vaccine here, there are many other examples of this happening with other groups. Many.
Articles and personalities are coming out now or should I say “testing the waters” and asking for “amnesty” or “forgiveness” for what they did to or allowed to happen to their fellow citizens during the pandemic. Worst of all are those who suggest the “anti-vaxxers” won, as if we were in some kind of competition and not an all out tragedy.
All those who had been bought and sold and/or motivated to be quiet from lack of courage or who just didn’t know any better or who went along to get along, or were so afraid they couldn’t think, or really believed what was and is proving to be highly suspect, suddenly seem able to broach questions they were unable to broach before. Is it better late than never? I don’t know. Do you?
Writing about the ones who were forced to be vaccinated to keep their jobs is too hard for this writer to tackle right now. I don’t know where to put my feelings on that one.
What I do know, or at least am arrogant enough to suggest, is that amnesty is malarkey. Amnesty takes no responsibility. It is a silly, ugly self-serving excuse for something that should not have happened. Given what we know. What we know from history. History we had believed we had vowed never to repeat. But we did and we were well on the way to some very very bad things. Again.
And we stop it now. We stop it now because there are bigger fish to fry.
And how do we do that? Amnesty? No. Don’t be silly. Forgiveness? Yes. But here is where I ask my readers because I have wrestled with this for ‘lo these many years now. Forgiveness is not such an easy thing.
First you must search your heart to know if you are the one who needs to be forgiven. A difficult task not easily achieved.
You may forgive someone in your heart because you cannot carry this burden of hatred with you. Eventually you learn that. It might take some time. Or you may ask God however you conceive this Spirit to be to do that forgiveness you cannot do.
I only know that unless someone asks to be forgiven you cannot do so directly. If they are unable to ask for forgiveness it means clearly they believe they have done nothing wrong. Your forgiveness will simply if not confuse then enrage them for who are you to forgive them? Aren’t you the one supposed to be asking for forgiveness after all? You can of course ignore this advice and face the wrath. That’s always there. That one becomes self-evident over time—if you’ve lived long enough.
You can also, if being the one who was persecuted ask “them” for forgiveness to bridge the divide. That might take more strength and inventiveness than you can come up with and few can do it. More power to them.
But this other one is more difficult: Do you always forgive someone who has asked for forgiveness? The short answer would be yes. But I am not okay with this and that is why I turn to my readers for comment. Because if ever there really was a common good, this answer matters. The lessons of history could finally be learned. We might actually, as silly human beings evolve beyond what we’ve been throughout time. Wouldn’t that be nice? Or at least hopeful.
If a person comes to you and asks you to forgive them for what they said and did to you as an individual during this pandemic period, do you? Yes. Of course you can.
But you ask for MORE with as much compassion and grace as you can muster. And you must do that for what is proving to be the “real” common good. If only that they might learn to teach their children.
You must ask them if they understood what they had really done as an individual in a collective? You must ask them if they understood that they were part of a movement that seemed to be leading to some very dangerous and terrible things because they either did not want to see, did not want to believe, did not want to engage in dialogue, did not want to research, did not realize they were in fact acting out of ignorance? That they fell for hate propaganda and divisiveness? That their virtue-signalling to protect Granny was a lie? Even if they did nothing but stood by and watched or took comfort in the crowd of the like-minded no matter what that crowd did or believed? That they had individual responsibility for what they did or did not do?
Did they understand they were on the road to a kind of totalitarianism and felt completely justified in their actions? You MUST get this from them or we will not have learned a thing from history and we will not be able to tackle all the agendas to which this lesson applies. Again. Is it remotely even possible to change the course of human nature?
There is of course the other choices: Never forgive them and even persecute them. And this is my question which I am afraid to ask because you must never ask a question you don’t want to hear the answer to: if we do not shame them and persecute them will they understand that what they did was wrong? Very very wrong. It was absolutely wrong. They MUST learn this. Even if their intentions were not bad. Even if they felt they were only bystanders. Even if their greatest crime was to be too trusting? Or simply ignorant? Or desperately frightened? Or victims of the weaponization of compassion?
It is a lesson that MUST be learned. For the “real” common good. Since we appear to have not learned a thing so far in this journey of humanity, not just with vaccines, but with all this divisive nonsense, can we at least learn this one lesson? And maybe change the course of history? Just one try at least.
I call for forgiveness but only if the lesson has been learned. Do we have to go the way of shame and castigation to ensure it is learned and learned well? To finally achieve through understanding, one way or another, a unity of purpose by the people to a planned future world that is fighting against such a novel idea? I wish and hope we do not have to resort to these same tactics that have seemed to work so well for the wrong reasons so far. It means the same old pattern of divide and conquer.
Who do we shame? How about the ones who put us all in this position in the first place, perhaps? In truth we need to love the ones who have chosen to accept the jab. The price they pay may very well be higher than that of those who chose not to and this is a sad and heart-breaking thing—if current research is correct. How could we hate them or hurt them anymore than they have possibly already been hurt? They are our fellow human beings.
I ask my readers to ponder this from a perspective of compassion and love, not the bitterness and anger they are possibly feeling right now. I know it is hard. But we have to learn. We have no time to repeat history. We are on the edge right now.
Also, here is a thought. In hindsight. (Which could have been thought about before having to resort to hindsight.) Nobody asked Granny if she wanted to be saved. Nobody asked Granny if she wanted 4 billion people taking an inadequately tested medical procedure, lose their jobs, their economy and their future and her grandchildren’s future for her sake. She would have said no. Next time — ask.
And P.S. My apologies to Ottawa’s public servants for my column on the truckers. Of course your “forgiveness” is certainly dependant on your stance on the subject. However, it was wrong of me to paint Ottawa’s public servants all with a broad brush. I hope to understand that many really “are” working for the common good and not for themselves or any misguided, ill-informed and wrong-headed perception of what is common good. That in fact, they “do” care about “all” Canadians and are finding their ways to do so.
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good… Ideology – that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.”
Alexander Soltzhenitzen
Here’s an earworm of some sort for a musical interlude because aside from vaccines there’s always war to keep us afraid:
Syl Shawcross lives in Quebec, Canada. She is the author of the book “The Get-Over-Yourself-Self-Help Book” available somewhere.