It’s My Wife’s Birthday and I’m Angry

Here’s why I think you should be too.

I remember when people respected health care workers, that was nice. — My wife a few days ago

My wife is incredible. She’s a Registered Nurse and she’s been working incredibly hard throughout this entire pandemic. She’s a badass and she loves what she does. I strongly believe she is an exceptional person, and her career track record proves it. But her work is hard, exhausting, and incredibly demoralizing at times.

Today is Wednesday, and like most Wednesday mornings she left for work at the hospital. But this isn’t any ordinary Wednesday, today is also her birthday. She’s such a humble person I doubt she’ll mention it to anyone, but she deserves to be celebrated. Celebrated for who she is as a person and what she does for her community in her role as a nurse.

But what does she see outside of the hospital window?

A mob of people protesting mask and vaccine mandates. They’re holding signs about how they believe the pandemic is a conspiracy, how the vaccinated are “sheeple,” and how their right to freedom supersedes others’ rights to safety. What’s even worse than this, they are taking up parking spaces from patients, many of whom are there for life-saving treatments like chemotherapy.

At one hospital, protesters are blocking ambulance bays. Patients are scared, some may even die as a result. The selfishness is unbelievable.

A year ago, entire neighborhoods would go outside every day at 7 PM and bang pots and pans as a sign of appreciation for healthcare workers. Now, people do this. It’s night and day.

She doesn’t deserve this, all healthcare workers don’t deserve this. Patients are being affected, they certainly don’t deserve this.

It’s seriously beyond belief that we’ve gotten to this point. Healthcare workers deserve respect for their many years of education and experience, and the hard work that they put in every day. They’re putting their lives on the line for the sake of their patients so that if we get sick, there will be someone there to help us. And this has come at the cost of many of their lives.

If you have a problem with bylaws and policy, go to city hall. Better yet, read a book. You might want to start with Dr. Paul A. Offit’s Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All.

So, a few things you can do:

1. If you know a healthcare worker, let them know that you love them and that you are thinking of them. This pandemic has been excruciatingly hard. Remind them that you appreciate what they’re doing, they likely haven’t heard that in a long time.
2. Be vocal about health literacy and vaccine effectiveness. Anti-vaxxers are an incredibly loud group, so help normalize making smart, informed choices.
3. If you aren’t vaccinated, get vaccinated. Please. If you’re worried, I understand — there are a lot of people trying to misguide you. Talk with a professional.

Now, I’m going to return to my House Husbandly duties to make sure she doesn’t have to have a care in the world when she gets home and can have a fully attentive listening ear. Thanks for being mine.