Dear bus drivers and others planning to quit your job over the vaccine mandate:
This is the second pandemic I’ve lived through. I knew several people who died of AIDS back in the day. And in under two years, COVID-19 has taken almost as many American lives as AIDS did in two decades. I know many people who have gotten COVID, and a couple who have died from it. Just this weekend, a friend of my husband’s died of COVID-19, leaving behind family and friends who loved and relied on him, including a small daughter. He was not vaccinated and when he got sick, he died.
Please, I am begging you to choose life and get the vaccine. I’m not saying this as a representative of the school district. I’m just worried sick for you and your families. Maybe your COVID won’t be that bad. But for at least one or two of you, it will be an agonizing, lonely road, and you’ll probably die at the end of it. You’ll leave behind family and friends, work buddies, students, and people you never even knew cared about and relied on you.
Get the vaccine, please. And may your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.
– – Deborah Kilgore, Lynnwood resident, wife and mother of three, Edmonds School Board Director
I second this remark! Those of you who don’t get the shot need to think about all the people in your life and how much you mean to them!
Beautifully written, Deborah.
Thank you for writing this.
Hi Deborah,
What do you mean when you include, “Get the vaccine, please. And may your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.”, in your letter?
Thank you
Yes, I’m very interested to know what that statement means to you. I look forward to hearing back from you!
“In Christianity and Judaism, the Book of Life (Hebrew: ספר החיים, transliterated Sefer HaChaim; Greek: βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς Biblíon tēs Zōēs) is the book in which God records the names of every person who is destined for Heaven and the World to Come.”
Hi, At Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it’s common for Jews to wish our loved ones to be inscribed in the Book of Life which means, well, you are fated to live. I’m not very observant but Yom Kippur wrapped up the week before and was on my mind when I wrote this letter.
Well said.
Thoughtful and heartfelt. If your letter can save just one person, it was worth it. Thank you for this.
A very heartfelt letter. The aid pandemic was fueled by unsafe sex. The COVID pandemic is fueled by conspiracies.
If we want to end the pandemic, than as a society we will have to learn how to deal with the mass number of those who have been taken in by falsehoods.
When people choose not to be vaccinated, they are dramatically increasing the risk of serious injury or death to those whom they interact most with. Which usually means their closest friends, family, and coworkers.
The stakes are high. It would be terrible for people to choose to quit their job just so they can put those closest to them as well as themselves at a much higher risk of dyeing.
What about the people who have already survived COVID being required to get a shot they clearly don’t need? If the vaccine mandate excluded people who tested and have proof they survived COVID then I believe people would take the mandate more serious and would consider getting the shot if they haven’t already. But since the vaccine requirement doesn’t follow that one tiny little piece of science you will lose more workers.
I can appreciate your request and plea from the heart but I personally have no respect for vaccine mandates that ignore a rather large part of the population that got the virus and survived. It points to political pressure and drug manufacturers making money.
This was beautifully poignant and straight to the point. Thank you so much for sharing and I hope people will listen.