A COVID world must not become a COLD world
THE worldwide Covid-19 pandemic continues at pace. These are strange times indeed.
Whilst here in North Queensland we have been somewhat “Covid” free, we cannot take this for granted nor let our guard down.
If I am honest, there have been many examples of conflicting advice and direction in terms of what are the next steps. In public modelling that has recently been released we are told that once we achieve 70-80 per cent vaccination rate there will be less transmission and fewer people with severe illness, and therefore fewer hospitalisations and deaths.
Other voices have differing views. No wonder the community is struggling to find the truth. Either way, it seems that deaths will continue to occur.
To what degree does anyone really know? Yet, one dead person is one too many.
We can’t just dismiss the life of any human being for every life is sacred in the eyes of God.
We weigh all this up and we also look at the increasing damage to business during lockdown. The mental health of many is under severe pressure. The anti-vaxxers scream and yell that their liberties are under threat. We are in a toxic environment and I suspect this won’t go away soon.
In all this I can understand the Queensland government wanting to keep us Covid-free, and at the writing of this editorial, this has been achieved.
I can also understand the anxiety that many have in opening up Australia, for once this happens surely Covid will be everywhere, even in Queensland. As a person of faith, I must never give up hope and I must go on believing that God has not abandoned us in this current mess or crisis. God in Jesus Christ is at his best in the messiness of life. Yet God wants us to be responsible for each other and be conscious that we must play our part in helping each other to be safe.
It is unconscionable that some people refuse to be vaccinated in this sense, for through their actions they are endangering their own lives and the lives and livelihoods of others.
How selfish and utterly irresponsible.
Ironically, in these challenging times where most of us are trying to do our very best by following the Covid rules, we have a government pursuing Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation that is anti-life and pro-death.
This is not the time for the Queensland government or the Queensland parliament to bring such legislation forward.
Death is all around us because of Covid and now the prospect of State sanctioned voluntary assisted suicide hangs above us. On the one hand, the state is protecting life with its strict Covid-19 response (which I commend) and on the other, lives will potentially be taken away.
The Premier wants us to look after each other (rightly so) and yet a situation is developing where the “state” through its legislation and lack of palliative care seems to be giving up on people.
Caring for each other in this increasingly fragile moment in history is needed more than ever. Humanity is in a category of its own and everyone’s welfare must be considered.
It is about putting others first and spending the time we have on this earth to work for the building up of humanity by not discarding it or even destroying it by our actions.