NEVER. AGAIN.
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https://twitter.com/THATJennCheng/status/1699479514903109957
Three years ago today I was given 15 minutes, because of COVID regulations, to say goodbye to my brother. Fifteen minutes to say everything I couldn't have even fit into a lifetime. Whether he heard me or not wasn't the point.
This was the end of ANY remnant of doubt that the COVID protocols and restrictions were complete and total bullshit. This day started a month long experience of seeing the very worst in people, and seeing how nasty people could be in the name of "following the rules" - even in dealing with a family grieving a tragedy. It ended my remaining belief that certain people could be "trusted sources" just by virtue of who or what they were.
From the hospital administration to the police department to the funeral home/cemetery, we were treated with disinterest, disdain and/or disgust. There are so many details I can't even include, but some of the "highlights":
No hotel would let us rent a conference or ballroom in order to have a "socially-distanced" wake.
No Parks&Rec representatives near us (or city or nearby cities) would allow us to assemble outdoors at a park for a wake - even if we socially distanced and masked.
We had to wait over a month to bury my brother, not because there were just so many waiting to be buried but because they were limiting the amount of buriel/funerals per day, while STILL forcing the families to socially distance, mask, and severely limit how many could even come. This is for an enormous cemetery on acres OUTDOORS.
So the grief I feel is inexorably and inextricably tied to an overwhelming anger, and I don't get to experience one without being flooded by the other.
I will NEVER AGAIN submit to any of those sort of restrictions, and to see talk of them returning being bandied about infuriates me. There will be no polite live-and-let-live attitude. No masking. No distancing. No limiting. No cooperation whatsoever. And Ben...I miss you beyond words.
My son-in-law had to say his final goodbye to his father over Zoom. His was an iatrogenic death from Remdesivir. Only by God's grace can we recover from this travesty. We are wounded but we are strong Justin. You are channeling your anger in productive ways. Please keep going on. You are in the company of others. We will resist together.
What these demons did to people was obscene. There needs to be criminal charges filed whenever possible. It really broke my connection with society in general. I remember walking around my neighborhood and seeing the "no mask/no entry" signs everywhere. I suddenly dawned on me that those people would happily see me dead. I've never been the same.
And no one talks about it. We all just went back to pretending none of it ever happened. It sickens and enrages me. I cannot endure all of that again. I cannot.