Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Few, The Proud, the Vaccinated

Check out my most recent blog posted in the Washington Post On Faith section!


http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2009/10/last_shall_be_first_in_line_for_h1n1_vaccine.html

4 comments:

Ronald H Hoffman said...

Lovely article. Prompted a lot of thinking about the "haves" paying for something they may not really need, when there is a "have-not" that needs that something and can't pay. Will I ever get through that eye of the needle?

Anonymous said...

(Not really anonymous.)

Rachel, I believe you realize that the flu shot you don't get won't make it to a third world country however powerful the wish. So consider the effects on your fellow seminarians--perhaps one or more with underlying medical conditions that would put their lives at risk--if they contract the H1N1 flu from you before you are even symptomatic. You have written a provocative editorial. Perhaps you have already weighed this possibility and still think it less likely than that your serum will make it to the more remote victims for whom you feel such admirable compassion.

Martin

Rachel said...

Martin -
Most of the people at my school who have any type of underlying medical condition will get the shot, if they haven't gotten it yet. If I worked at a retirement home or with children, I would get the shot for that very reason, since I don't and I practice good hygiene, I will not get the shot. I know that no amount of "wishing" will get the shot to a third world country, but neither will stealing it from people in this country who need it more than me. I felt it appropriate to bring this issue to light and apparently so did the editor of the On Faith section, so who knows what planting a seed can do. The people in the third world are waiting for leftovers, I'm at least doing my part to facilitate a "leftover" in whatever small way I can.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to push a little further here. Editorials are thrilling ways to announce our wishes, and they may have some effect on others (check your response count); but the heart in which this seed is already firmly planted belongs to a seminarian who may at some point come to recognize it as a calling to work for a relevant government international policy organization, or an NGO that addresses such inequities in resource distribution. In other words, knowing your skills and interests, I don't think you would long be satisfied with writing editorials as "your part." I think you should throw your whole vocation at this or another of your passions, learning the issues through the hard work of directly helping, perhaps overseas. The gifts God has given you long for such expression.

Martin

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