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How to Cope When Someone You Love Refuses the Vaccine
Using the practice of acceptance when things seem unacceptable
Someone I love has decided he does not need to get the Covid-19 vaccine. This is not an anomaly, I know, as there are millions of people who are refusing to get it. But the fact is, I’m worried. And angry. And just so very, very tired of the whole damn thing. But this is someone I love and I am having to make some very hard decisions about how I am going to respond to this.
I have tried to talk to him, but he is rigid in his beliefs surrounding the vaccine. In conversation he jumps ahead to cut me off at the pass, letting me know that he will not be swayed, no matter what I say. He thinks his immune system is strong. He thinks he is protected because he did not get the virus when a close friend did. He sees the world differently than I do and I cannot change that.
About 15 years ago I began to study Buddhism. One of the ways it has changed me is by teaching me to accept things I cannot control. This is a lifelong practice. I have been given many opportunities to practice and I am getting better at it. But I still fumble, and sometimes fall, railing against what is and demanding that it all be different. Wishing, and even demanding, that things change will do no good. Praying to some god somewhere…
