“Everything in war is simple, but the simplest things are difficult.”

As I close in on my 100 day after being hospitalized because of COVID 19, I am finding myself both irritated and more and more concerned about what a post-Covid world might be for me and others.

I suspect some of my irritability is in some way related to the steroids I am taking. I have found myself somewhat more intolerant of those who seem to think that the worst of the pandemic is over, those who are reluctant to get vaccinated, and those who think the pandemic will just run it course and we all will be fine.

It seems our civilian society is becoming more self-centered. In our contemporary civilian world almost nothing has lasting consequences. This appears to be particularly evident regarding our responses to measures that have proven to protect both the individual and our communities from COVID. I fear our rush to get back to normal will contribute to the persistence of COVID infections and deaths well past my lifetime.

Having spent 41 years in the military, I guess I still struggle knowing that some people tout their decisions to not embrace measures designed to protect them and others and then they loosely use the word freedom as justification. To me, you must have personal responsibility first to truly have freedom. In the military, and more-so in war, any individuals action which had conceivable bearing on the safety of others became a matter of concern for the entire unit. Carl von Clausewitz, an 1820s military theorist, wrote “Everything in war is simple, but the simplest things are difficult.” The solutions to ending the pandemic are relatively simple, but they will require personal responsibility to create the friction needed.

In the coming week, I will get vaccinated even though I have heard from other hospitalized and recovering COVID patients that I will get sick. For me it is a matter of personal responsibility that I am willing accept for the safety of others.