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| The famous "lakohou atfalakom la yanfa3 el nadam" slogan as rendered by Tarek Chemaly |
Well, here we are - am waiting for my vaccine turn to come. To begin with, it seems a lot of people are not taking the vaccine. And here am talking about many people I know, educated, smart, who read daily, but who still will not take the vaccine. I heard all kinds of reasons (will not say excuses as not to appear judgmental). A lawyer says she has allergies (which are actually some of the reasons listed not to take the vaccine), a biology major is not convinced of either of the currently available vaccines, a management consultant thinks we are being tested as guinea pigs, a science teacher is convinced vaccines are not effective and people are dying because of them, and a math teacher says that the vaccine leaves the mark of the beast on the body once taken.
Now being diabetic and having lived in a snood (because I wear hearing aids there is no more space to store anything behind my ears in a conventional mask) about all of 2020 and having reduced my outings to about once a month (usually combining supermarket and bank trips at the same time), I honestly long for the pseudo-normalcy of a life considering that the rest of the conditions are far from ideal in Lebanon (devaluation of 78%, lack of access to our bank accounts, an explosion I have survived twice and the list goes on!).
But hey, Mario Abboud (the journalist) nailed it on the head with his "bala mokh" (figuratively "lacking brains") comment in his now infamous TV journal intro. The other day, right smack in the middle of the Joyce storm, someone knocks on our door. It turned out to be a neighbor who was back from her job at a bank and who wanted to pay us a visit. I mean seriously, she must have interacted with God knows how many people, when we are hunkering at home (me diabetic and mother elderly), but she still found it a good time for a visit.
That all of this is super worrying is not even worth mentioning. Because as I said earlier COVID is but one of Lebanon's problems.