Dear Editor,
The week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus has many similarities to what I am about to discuss. On Sunday, Jesus, the one who fed the hungry, gave sight to the blind, healed the sick, cleansed the leper, was hailed as king.
People forgot about their troubles, their chores, and the daily grind of life to pay homage, celebrate, and dance as Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. What could go wrong with this jubilant crowd?
As we watched the virus spread like wildfire from China to the rest of world, we kept hearing, “Stay home, save lives.”
This became a viral statement with many people around the world being heavily fined for violating the curfews. Even the giant tech company Facebook had it as a cover: “Stay home, save lives.”
The word “essential” took on a more serious meaning during the pandemic, which made us aware of the jobs that were/are truly essential. Prayers were and continue to be offered for the nurses and doctors who rose to the top of the list of essential workers.
We were always aware of the food store workers and garbage collectors as essential workers.
Nurses and doctors were hailed as heroes and heroines as they, despite being scared, had to face the fight head on while many of us were secure in our homes.
Many of them could not touch or hug their loved ones for weeks, as they had to isolate themselves to protect their families from this deadly contagion. Yet, they never shirked their responsibility to live out their Hippocratic Oath.
They, too, were trying to figure the virus and its transmissibility.
Notes of gratitude came from all quarters for the nurses and doctors, some of whom regrettably also succumbed to this virus, while others are numbered among the recovered.
Discussion surrounding their wages and benefits came to the fore and the world rallied behind them because we saw how essential these servants of the healthcare system really were/are.
While politicians were engaged in political diatribe about lockdowns being too long or too restrictive, these putative heroes and heroines of the pandemic were working some crazy hours just to prevent the healthcare system from folding.
After Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the “competent religious authority” wielded their political power to get rid of him – to rid themselves of the bread of life and the man who stood in their way of religious and political freedom.
Between Monday and Thursday, the case was made. And then came Friday. Some of the same people who said, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”, now were saying, “Crucify him.”
What could have gone wrong so quickly in a matter of days – the said week? For the life of me, I still cannot understand how those cooked-up charges, which could not stand up under a mango tree, stood up in the court of law.
I have, however, learned one thing from this event in history – those in power will make the law say whatever they want it to say and do regardless of the overwhelming evidence that says otherwise.
While our heroes and heroines battled the pandemic without any vaccine, and might I add, fared very well, they, too, like Jesus, have reached their Friday.
They are no longer “essential”. The said nurses and doctors who bravely faced the Goliath coronavirus and fought valiantly to save lives are now being crucified for (one) trying anything to save lives and (two) for their refusal to take an experimental vaccine in their bodies.
These same heroes and heroines are now being bullied to stay quiet, to not try anything NOT approved by the world boss (I’m not taking about Vybz Kartel).
How could Friday have come so quickly for our putative essential workers? How could we have hailed these nurses and doctors as heroes and heroines just a few months, a few weeks ago but are now considering them as enemies?
Their licence to practice as doctors and nurses is being weighed in the balance, which means that their livelihood will be affected, hence threatening their very survival. Is this what we have come to? Although, this hasn’t reached our shores, well not publicly as yet, it is cause for great concern.
I am at a loss as to how the competent authorities around the world keep saying that the hospitals are overcrowded and understaffed, yet we see so many healthcare workers being let go for taking a stand against the experimental substance.
Are we to understand that the health of the nations is no longer important?
Are the hospitals no longer in need of the service of these essential workers or were we being fooled that they were essential workers in the first place?
Have we reached the state where artificial intelligence can now man the healthcare system?
For those of us who deem ourselves esse, too, become a victim of the Goliaths. Selah.
— Pastor Carlyle Peart
