Received the second dose…
Today was the day for my scheduled second dose of the Covid-19 Vaccine. It was a well organized and efficient scene, that to me, shows the best of what our government can do when put into action with a plan. The activity at the same site, when I received my first dose, was just as efficient and orderly.
Of course, this shows that there WAS a plan. More important, the thing that made it work so well was, and is, the people. Everywhere around the site it was obvious that this massive effort to vaccinate every single human being, was a well planned and orchestrated coordination of human resources.
Federal, reserve members, from several branches of the military, decked out in work uniforms, FEMA personnel, the CCC, representatives of several local law enforcement agencies all visible and doing their jobs to make it comfortable, friendly, easy to navigate and get in and out in a minimal time frame. As easy as the process was, for some, it would be easy to forget that, under different circumstances, these are the same people that you might see on the street in a T-shirt and shorts or, any number of them might even be your next door neighbor.
For some, their job in this effort, is the same thing that they do every day. However, after talking with many of the people on site during my two visits, it became obvious that most of the people doing this work for us in this monumental task, have lives and jobs elsewhere that are on hold, so that at this critical time of need, they can be here to help and be a part of the solution.
If you have the opportunity, when you see anyone in any area of public service, from a cleaner to a cop, a military reservist or doctor, nurse, or grocer, take a moment out of your day to just say “thank you for what you do, it’s appreciated”. Without a doubt, that little thing from you will be appreciated more than you can ever imagine.
A note about the photo at the top of this post. Last night temps dropped and rains came in. This morning as the storm front moved out, I stood on my apartment’s rear balcony, admiring the beauty of nature after the tempest. I took out my phone camera, snapped a couple of shots of the cloud patterns, then went inside to save the photos to my computer. It wasn’t until the four shots I had snapped opened up on the screen for me to look at that I realized that I had captured more than clouds and blue sky.
With no filters, effects or anything at all, except for the light being just right at the right time, the photos I took captured more than my naked eye saw as my phone camera froze the moment. I was astounded to look at the images for the first time, seeing the unexpected rainbow and burst of sun rays.
It was a reminder to me that there is often more to what we think that we see, than meets the eye at first glance. And so for me, after the other events of the day, a reminder to look at the people around us with a bit more care and compassion. Many of us have no idea of the beauty inside of some of those around us. Take a moment when you can. It costs nothing.
