Survival of the fittest. Boy, am I gonna annoy some folks with this one.
I don’t intend for You Can Have Hope to be anything but encouraging, and on the surface this one won’t be. But I have lots on my mind, and there is a silver lining in what I’m about to share.
Survival of the fittest is a component of Darwin’s theory of evolution (theory being a key word.) Do NOT count me among a devotee of Darwin; it’s actually a complex issue in my mind. But basically, survival of the fittest is about certain organisms (and people, perhaps) that are more able to adapt to changing environments, and can produce offspring that carry on those survival traits. Okay, fine – I know after living in south central Florida it took me a while to get used to colder weather when we moved back up this way. And if you’ve been in high altitudes, and struggled to get a good breath, you’ll note that folks who live up there don’t have the same issues. You adapt to it, in other words.
Set that aside for now. I need to tell you a little story.
The second car I ever owned was a 1974 Gran Torino Elite. Here it is (not actually mine, but this model and color.):
Ford only produced this model for three years. It came along in the heyday of the “personal luxury cars,” vehicles like Grand Prixes, Monte Carlos, that genre. This car reminded me of a Thunderbird. It was a graduation gift, but truth be told, I think Daddy wanted it worse than I did.
One interesting feature of this car was the seat belt. Check this out – unless you had your seat belt extended, it wouldn’t start.
You can imagine how well-received that item was. If there was a problem with the system, you had to open the trunk, push a little red button, and supposedly it would start. That never happened to me.
The workaround was that you could pull the seat belt out of the retractor and hook it over the interior door handle. You’d effectively circumvented this “safety feature.”
It never was a real issue for me, since even as a high schooler I routinely wore my seat belt.
But – and this is a big but – I still sort of resented being protected from myself. It’s like when I see a “keep off the grass” sign. My first impulse is to go boogie on that grass.
Ford was actually forcing you to wear that seat belt – at lest, that was the intent.
Still with me?
I don’t think anyone should be forced to be vaccinated. Did y’all hear me in the back?
Believe me, I don’t want to bring up COVID. It’s intregal to what I want to communicate, though.
As I’m banging this out, Los Angeles County is bringing back a mask mandate whether you’ve been vaccinated or not. They aren’t closing businesses and restaurant … yet. O spare me.
But it got me to thinking – at what point, if any, do you simply invoke the “survival of the fittest” concept and go about life?
I’m not judging anyone here about their health choices. Really, I’m not. In my never-ceasing quest to be open-minded (except in the areas I’m beyond rigid on!), I’m asking myself some questions. I’ll let you in on my musings.
One option I thought of is that we do nothing. Anyone over the age of 12 can get vaccinated. And if someone chooses not to get vaccinated, that’s absolutely fine. There are all sorts of reasons not to – some based on personal health, some on personal conviction, some on simple mistrust, and I’m thinking a goodly chunk of folks are simply afraid of what might happen to them.
(Incidentally, I can’t find any history of any vaccine showing effects years after the shot. Adverse reactions typically happen within a couple of weeks.)
One companion thought to this is that there is a minuscule handful of folks with compromised immune systems who can’t be vaccinated and are at risk while COVID spreads in their area. So it’s not just the “guilty” getting sick.
Thought Number Two: we could roll back society to where it was back in the spring of 2020.
As a former COVID patient and a fully vaccinated individual, I say not just “no” but “heck no.”
Third thought: We could mandate that vaccinated people carry vaccine passports, and thereby avoid anything that would be included in Number Two.
I wondered if that a passport might be a “get out of jail” card.
Show proof of vaccination and you can go to concerts, games, theaters, restaurants, and yes, theme parks. Show proof of vaccination and you can get on a plane to wherever you want. But if you choose not to get vaccinated, then it’s back to the “stay at home” order for you.
No clubs, restaurants, arenas, theaters, or theme parks for you. Go to the grocery or pharmacy only during special hours when everyone is required to wear masks and practice distancing. No shopping at the mall or eating out.
I got over that option pretty quick. But, for context, I remember the first time I traveled abroad when I was 13. I went to Europe, not some third-world places. I had to get a smallpox booster along with other vaccines. I had to show proof I’d been vaccinated. I don’t remember it being a big deal.
I don’t think that’s gonna work. It’s a different world than it was in 1969 when I visited Europe. I won’t get into the differences.
Which gets me back to “survival of the fittest.”
My bottom line will always be “what would Jesus do?”
See, selfish people never want to take responsibility for anything. It’s always ‘those other folks” – and these days, it’s those other folks who wear masks still, don’t wear masks, get vaccinated, don’t get vaccinated, ad infinitum. And to rally their supporters, or to feel better about themselves, they demean and devalue others who don’t see it the same way they do, post funny/not funny memes, and generally position themselves at the center of their little worlds.
It’s still survival of the fittest – what must you do as a believer to survive and not get sucked into a cesspool of unkindness?
Tony’s take?
No compassionate Christian person wants to take the risk of allowing even more deadly COVID variants to evolve while thousands more Americans die unnecessarily.
We can do better than “survival of the fittest.”
Do the right thing.
Be blessed.