A Rant from John

A Rant from John

Thank you for reading this week’s post, A Rant from John. I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day weekend!
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Readers may know I’ve been writing a travelogue for Global Outdoors. You can see some of those posts here- https://blog.globaloutdoors.com.
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Bumper Sticker of the Week-

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Traveling

As you may remember, we were at Flat Rock, NC visiting the Tedescos.

Sunday we went to Du Pont State Park and took a short hike along a waterfall.

Sunday a hurricane slammed Louisiana. Pray for those folks, or better yet make a donation to the Red Cross. Fearing the storm might impact North Carolina, Susan and I hit the road Monday morning and pulled into our driveway at about 5 PM. Home again, after five months on the road!

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The first post under the Spotted Tail masthead was on November 6, 2010. I have continually posted, usually weekly, since then. In all that time I have studiously avoided discussing politics, religion, and social issues, feeling that there are plenty of venues out there that cover those subjects, probably better than I can.

Forgive me, but this week I need to vent!

The Rant

A friend had texted and asked me to call when I got home. Five miles from the Florida state line, I called. He proceeded to tell me that he had gotten COVID from his vaccinated girlfriend. He, however, was not vaccinated, nor does he wear masks. His “research,” no doubt conducted on misinformation websites, made him think neither was of much use.

His girlfriend is a teacher, and contracted the disease at school. Thanks, Governor! See bumper sticker above.

The MASK– Let’s be clear, I don’t like wearing a mask. It’s hot, it muffles my already bad enunciation, and it fogs up my glasses. But I wear one indoors because it protects me (to an extent), and more importantly, it protects other people from anything I might otherwise be spreading.

Don’t surgical teams wear masks??? Why? Because masks look cool, or to stop the spread of microbes??

Wearing a mask is civically responsible. It’s patriotic!

If you don’t like wearing a mask, think of all the fun you’ll have with that respirator!

To my misinformed friend, not wearing a mask is selfish and irresponsible. It’s a pandemic! Over half a million Americans are dead! Put your mask on!

The VACCINE– I was born in 1952. I received vaccines for polio, smallpox, and rubella (at least) in elementary school. All my classmates did, too- they gave it to us at school!

I received God-only-knows what vaccines when I was drafted into the army. I still get a tetanus booster every ten years.

Is it a coincidence that neither I, nor any of my contemporaries of my acquaintance, developed polio, smallpox, rubella, or tetanus? I THINK NOT!!!

My mom, born well before Salk developed the polio vaccine, contracted polio. So did her cousin, at about the same time. Mom mostly recovered from it. The cousin was in a wheelchair for life. Lots of people died from polio.

At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyze or kill over half a million people worldwide every year. According to https://polioeradication.org/polio-today/history-of-polio/, “In 1988, when the GPEI started, polio paralysed more than 1000 children worldwide every day.” Read the Wikipedia entry at this link- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_polio.

Rare individuals are allergic to the vaccine, and get ill or die from it. But the risk of getting sick from not getting the vaccine is much greater than the risk of getting the vaccine.

The parents who don’t want their kids vaccinated probably think nothing of putting them in an automobile though, the riskiest activity we routinely undertake. Wikipedia says, “In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 crashes, 30,296 deadly, killing 32,999, and injuring 2,239,000. About 2,000 children under 16 die every year in traffic collisions.” These are American statistics.

And parents don’t vaccinate their kids because it’s risky???

Some stupid anti-vax arguments-

“I don’t trust the government.” Nor do I. What does the government have to do with you keeping yourself from getting sick?

“There are microchips in the vaccine so the government can track us.” This is plain stupid. You probably have a cell phone. You pay handsomely every month for the privilege of allowing the government to track you. Hello??

My own experience with vaccines makes me think they work gooood. How many of your friends and relatives have had polio?

Misinformation sites have an agenda. Talk with any reliable medical professional and they will tell you that masks and vaccines will help prevent the spread of COVID.

Egads!!! Get yourself vaccinated. Get your kids vaccinated. Wear the mask.

There’s been over 40 MILLION COVID cases in the US alone, with over 600,000 people dying from it. If we all work together, maybe this thing will go the way of smallpox. Or we can continue being stupid, not get vaccinated, not wear masks, and keep watching our friends and relatives get sick and maybe die.

The choice is ours. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Second and Third Bumper Stickers of the Week (all were from the same car) –

 

We’re about 40,000 years removed from living in caves. Isn’t it time we started acting like it?

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FISHING-

I went to Mosquito Lagoon Thursday. Got a trout pretty quickly, and then later a redfish. Both came on a redfish worm fly. I must be out of practice, since I broke the rod tip trying to boat the redfish.

Since I was done early, I did a boat ramp parking lot survey. Beacon 42- zero trailers. Haulover Canal- three trailers (I don’t count pontoon boat trailers). Biolab Ramp- zero trailers. Parrish Park- two trailers. Titusville Municipal Ramp- three trailers.

Doesn’t speak well for great fishing lately, that’s for sure.

That’s the report for this week. Thank you again for reading the post, A Rant from John. Life is great (if sometimes frustrating) and I loved exploring the USA!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go hiking! Take a walk! Do SOMETHING!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.