The assumption we can’t talk about

For the safety and comfort of our members, visitors, and staff, the following public health measures recommended by the CDC are in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

Face coverings are required indoors for all guests who are not yet fully vaccinated* against COVID-19

Face coverings are no longer required for guests who are fully vaccinated*

Face coverings are not required outdoors for guests regardless of vaccination status

These same face covering policies apply to all staff members and third-party vendors

*Per CDC guidelines, a person is considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after receiving the 1-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or 2 weeks following the second dose of the 2-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Notices like this one have surfaced in many public venues. I lifted these “COVID-19 Guidelines” off of the home page of Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio, east of Cleveland. My wife and I visited there over the weekend. (It’s a beautiful place, if you’re nearby. The photos with this blog were taken there.)

The notice includes one huge assumption: Those who are not vaccinated will continue wearing masks, on the honor system.

Yeah, right. I don’t have to tell you how likely that is.

Trust is gone

About half the visitors to the arboretum gift shop wore masks while we were there. I didn’t ask any of the maskless whether they were vaccinated – I know better. They ranged from a preteen with his dad (neither wearing a mask) to three female senior citizens, one with a cane.

My point: We cannot trust people to follow the rules.

Sorry to offer such a downer when the pandemic seems to be easing. I sincerely hope we are beyond the worst of it.

But those who have refused to follow the rules since the beginning of the pandemic (and they are legion) see the new rules as liberating, despite the fact – yes, fact – that the new rules don’t apply to them.

Unvaccinated individuals still are “required” to wear face coverings indoors in many places.

For example, I wish Annie Black was an anomaly, but she’s not. The Nevada state legislator was stripped of her voting and speaking privileges last week after an anti-mask protest that violated the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines. She refused to say whether she has been vaccinated.

“Trust me, this ain’t over,” she wrote in a newsletter to her followers on Thursday.

“I will not back down,” she tweeted on Friday.

COVID-related orders ending June 2

Sports stadiums soon will fill all their seats, with masks – and, obviously, social distancing – no longer required. The state of Ohio will drop all COVID-related health orders on June 2, meaning venues such as 35,000-seat Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, can fill all of those seats all summer.

I’m not ready to attend a Major League Baseball game just yet. I’m not convinced all 35,000 people are COVID-free. I hope we are beyond the stage where another surge is possible, but we’ll see.
Many of the people wearing masks in public now are vaccinated, like I am, I’ll wager – but again, I’m not asking. I don’t want to start a fight.

I am fully vaccinated, so the CDC guidelines are more about principle to me.

At least some people without masks are not vaccinated.

I don’t trust you. Not at all. You are more concerned with your personal “freedom” than you are with the health of the nation.

I hope I’m overstating this, and that I’m speaking to only a few of you.

But if you had followed the rules a year ago, the pandemic would be long over by now. Of that I am convinced.

Face coverings still in style

I am not the only vaccinated individual who will continue to wear a mask at times.  Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said there’s “no shame, no problem” for vaccinated individuals to continue wearing masks.

Will I wear one past June 2? I don’t know. In crowded public places, I probably will. Will I in the grocery store? Maybe. I’ll keep a mask in my pocket, for sure, and will put it on if I feel uncomfortable.

Masks proved effective in virtually eliminating the flu season last winter. I’ve heard a few of my friends say they will wear masks next winter for that reason, even if the COVID pandemic is history by then.

Avoiding airborne toxins

Smoking tobacco products has been taboo for many years. Why? We don’t like breathing in toxins from other people.

We can see cigarette smoke. We can’t see a toxic virus.

Is that the difference?

Smoking, of course, is not illegal – and I’m not saying it should be. But it is banned in most public indoor spaces. For good reason.

If those public indoor spaces require a mask for basically the same reason – to prevent the spread of toxins that can sicken us or worse – then we should honor that requirement, even if it’s not state law.

If you want to smoke, go elsewhere. If you refuse to wear a mask, shop elsewhere. You already do the first thing; it’s time to do the second thing.

If the pandemic is on its last legs, that’s because many of us now are vaccinated. To encourage even more people to sign up, our governor has instituted a $1 million lottery to encourage adults to get vaccinated, and four-year college scholarships to encourage young people to sign up. It seems to be working.

If the state instead offered, say, 10 prizes of $100,000 each or 100 prizes of $10,000 each, then the lottery would see more winners. But we like big numbers, don’t we – even though the odds of winning drop dramatically. Gov. Mike DeWine was right to institute one big prize, because that’s what draws us in. That’s what gets the headlines.

If that’s what it takes to get us over the hump vaccination-wise, then it’s a smart move.

COVID is still out there. My parents live in a senior living facility in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and, according to its most recent newsletter, every resident there has been vaccinated. Still, last week a staff member was diagnosed with COVID.

The newsletter then makes this statement:

Please see this as a reminder that COVID 19 is still active in the area. We need your cooperation.

It’s not over. I’m not ready to attend a baseball game with 35,000 people just yet.

I understand that life involves risk. But there’s no point in risking my life when I don’t have to.

In the beginnning, redemption

Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. This is the story of Genesis, the first book of the Bible – and the entire Bible itself.

I just finished a deep dive (30-week study) into Genesis with a group of men I’m affiliated with. I’d read the stories before, but not at the level I experienced them this year. Here’s a few lessons I learned.

Creation

“In the beginning, God …” These are the words that begin the Scriptures. The first subject is God.

That’s the first – and best – lesson of the entire book. Life starts with God. He created all. He is above all.

God takes center stage. Not the American flag. Not the human body. Not government. Not Earth.

We often let these, and other things, take the place of God in our lives. No. God, and God alone, is Creator. Nothing else is on His level.

Fall

I learned that sin did not originate with me. I was born into sin, but I did not cause it. I am guilty of sin because I commit sinful acts, but because sin did not begin with me, I am not responsible for my own “salvation.”

Adam caused original sin. He changed the course of history by rejecting God and eating the apple, listening to that devil of a serpent.

Because original sin was Adam’s fault, “salvation” must come from someone on Adam’s level. Enter Jesus Christ. Jesus changed the course of history again, connecting us with God in a way that no sinful human being could do.

Sin started with Adam. It ends with Jesus. I am a recipient of sin from Adam, and salvation from Jesus.

As with Creation, God alone is the author of this story. I’m grateful He allows me to have a part in it.

The rest of the story involves restoration and redemption, through the lives of people.

Noah

This guy listened to God, when literally no one else around him (except his immediate family) did. God told him to build an ark on dry land. It took him 75 years, give or take, to construct it.

I’m sure he was the laughingstock of the town. The ark made no sense. The sun shone, the sea remained in its rightful place, life continued as it always had.

Has God ever asked me to do something nonsensical?

I’m not sure He has. Not like that.

We know how the story goes. God knew something no one else did. A flood was coming (there’s evidence even today of a previous worldwide flood, if you’re willing to see it).

Noah trusted God, and he was ready when God sent the flood.

Abraham

This guy had a great life. He was wealthy, with plenty of land and possessions, and had everything he could ever want (except a son, apparently).

One day, God tapped him on the shoulder. You need to pack up everything you own and leave the comfort of your land, family and culture. I’m not going to tell you where you’re going. Are you in?

Abraham had questions, I’m sure. But he said, “OK God, I’ll do it.”

He traveled a long way, hundreds of miles. God led him to a “promised land,” but wouldn’t give It to him permanently. God repeatedly promised Abraham land and many descendants, but Abraham himself had no home on Earth.

Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

Has God uprooted me like that?

Actually, yes. Several times.

As a child, my family moved from the Cleveland area to the Detroit area. That wasn’t too bad. Just before ninth grade, we moved to Pennsylvania. That was scary. I felt alone. I learned for the first time how to trust God.

Later, the job that I loved ended after 24 years. That eventually led to two out-of-state moves, the second returning me to the Cleveland area. Those moves were hard. I knew no one in either city. I had to trust that God knew what He was doing. I’ve seen plenty of evidence that He does.

Isaac

The first episode in Isaac’s life is a test of faith of his father, Abraham. But if we look at the story from Isaac’s perspective, it’s quite a faith test for him too.

When Isaac was a teenager, God told Abraham to sacrifice him on an altar. Isaac was the promised son through whom many descendants were to come, and now God wanted him back.

Abraham didn’t argue. He walked for three days and then built an altar, put Isaac on it, and raised the knife to kill him.

Wait a minute. Abraham was old and feeble by this time – he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Isaac is a teenager by this time, young and strong. When he discovered what was happening, he could have told his dad to get lost. He could have physically restrained his dad very easily.

But he didn’t. Isaac submitted to God’s plan, even to the point of risking his own seemingly unnecessary death. How’s that for faith?

God has not brought me to the brink of death yet. I see death all around me, including some that seem unnecessary – at least in my eyes.

But God has a plan, which I cannot see. I can see parts of it looking back, but I rarely see God’s plan while I’m in the middle of it.

Jacob

Jacob is an interesting case. He began by taking the birthright of his twin, Esau. Later, he wrestled with God. He had two wives (they were sisters; he worked for their father for 14 years to “earn” them, because he could not afford a dowry) and their two maids, and had 12 sons by the four of them.

He played favorites with his sons, one in particular.

Eventually, Jacob learned to love God. How much? On his deathbed, Jacob gave each of his 12 sons a blessing (Chapter 49), which was God’s plan for their futures. Jacob spoke God’s words, which later were fulfilled.

Joseph

That favored son was Joseph. He had an up-and-down life: favored son, sold into slavery, respected in Potiphar’s household, tossed into prison on false charges (and was forgotten there), then instantly promoted to second-in-command to Pharoah in Egypt.

I’ve always puzzled over Joseph’s interactions with his brothers during the famine: giving their money back, asking to see his younger brother (while not revealing his identity to them), then giving their money back a second time and accusing them of stealing his silver cup so that they would return and beg for mercy.

I learned that Joseph was testing his brothers, helping them see their sin when they sold him into slavery, and to see whether their hearts had truly changed in regard to the way they treated his younger brother Benjamin. Then he brought the entire family to Egypt to save them from the famine.

The family experienced redemption and restoration in a big way.

Who do I need to forgive?

That’s a personal question, one I hope to answer in real life and not in a blog.

Creation. Fall. Redemption. Restoration. The circle of life continues today.