Schadenfreude

 Literal translation: bad joy. Dictionary definition: pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

I am guilty of this emotion more often than I tend to relate to you all, but in this case I must reflect on what I believe is a frightening trend. The stories that have been emerging over the past several months about those people who have refused the COVID vaccine and then become very sick with the virus. And some of them die. And this is the moment where we might shrug our collective shoulders and say, "Well, it serves them right." 

I am here to say, "No. It doesn't." As big a fan as I am of things breaking to the fair side, I can't see that this is something about which we should be rejoicing. Instead, it should give us all pause. Like the case of Joshua Garza, who passed up his opportunity to get a shot that  might have kept him from catching the disease that has killed more than four million people. This man from Texas caught COVID in late January, he had to be rushed to the hospital in early February because his lungs were failing. He ended up needing a double lung transplant. Mister Garza would like to tell everyone who will listen that it's a lot easier to get the shot.

Those who see this as leveling karma on individuals who make bad choices are probably missing the big picture. The strain on our health care system currently is almost impossible to describe. True, we are no longer hearing stories of morgues that are spilling over into hallways and refrigerated trailers. The battles we are currently fighting are more like wildfires. As variants pop up, our response needs to be quick and decisive before another surge occurs. This will allow the most and best medical care to be given to those who need it most. Anti-vaxxers dropping dead isn't a win for anyone except for the trolls who live a couple notches below where I hang out. 

I am suddenly reminded of the public service announcement Yul Brynner filmed shortly before his death. "Now that I'm gone I tell you," Yul says to the camera, "don't smoke." Hindsight is twenty-twenty and voices from the grave are probably worth listening to, but we all know someone who is still smoking. That big label that adorns every package of cigarettes is there to read as you light up. Nobody takes a puff imagining the double lung transplant in their future. 

And so it can be said of those who refuse to be vaccinated. It would be so much easier if they would, but you can lead a horse to water but you can't cry over the milk that they spill. The vaccines are here when they are ready. Now we need to figure out a way to tear down the wall that makes it so hard to imagine that this could be a good thing. For everyone.