How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Luke 6:42 (NIV)

Some of you have been sending me notes about the developing guidance from the CDC.  I hear you. 

It’s not the same guidance we all celebrated in early July.

Which begs the question: how did we get back here again? 

It’s Simpler Than You Think

Vaccination is one of the most effective tool we have against both the Alpha and the Delta variant of the Covid-19. In areas where vaccination rates are lower, more people are getting sick from the Delta variant. This became so clear that Los Angeles and St. Louis reinstated mandatory mask guidelines for indoor spaces again. After finally feeling free of masks (unless we were in health care provider locations or traveling) many folks are reluctant to go back to wearing masks. 

So make a choice: get the vaccine or get used to wearing the masks. Because this is the way it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.The vaccination rate in Massachusetts is high. Still, because of what’s happening around the country, the CDC has reversed it’s own previous recommendations on masks in schools for the K-12 crowd. People are getting angry, sometimes misplacing their anger on the very folks who are trying to help them. 

In Fact, We’re in an Epidemic of Misplaced Anger Lately

When we’re frustrated that things aren’t going our way, we lash out; and when we’re feeling unappreciated or forgotten, we lash out. When we think our views aren’t being heard, we lash out; and when we feel we’re no longer in sync with popular opinion, we lash out. And when we’re stressed and fearful, we lash out even more! So, what’s our stress and fear level after a year and a half of a pandemic? Abnormally high? 

How about understandably high? When things are stressful around us, we feel the rest of our emotions more intensely. We leverage the fight or flight response against everything once it’s activated, Remember the old cliché, “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?” We’ve been harboring extra anger, born of our fear and of our stress, and it’s making us monstrous. 

Odds Are That the Thing You’re Angry About Today Isn’t the Actual Source of Your Anger

So when the news of needing to reconsider mask wearing comes (as anyone watching the slowing rate of vaccination adoption knew it would) folks respond with that same anger. And to what effect? Anger is the serpent eating it’s own tail. Your heart-rate goes up. Your immune system goes kablooey (no, not the scientific term). And your ability to acknowledge your own mistakes and vulnerabilities all but disappears. 

Until more of us are vaccinated, and until we learn to live with Covid, we’re going to keep cycling like this. As long as vaccination remains a political football, we’re going to keep backsliding. I call on Christians at Pilgrim and around the world to place the needs of others on par with their own, and, if possible, get vaccinated against Covid-19. If you cannot be vaccinated, I understand. Please keep that mask on! You may soon have an awful lot of mask-wearing company if we can’t get this right.