But Im Just One Person WRONG Me Buying A Drink From Starbucks Wont Make A Difference WRONG Im Not Able

“But I’m just one person” WRONG “me buying a drink from starbucks won’t make a difference” WRONG “I’m not able to donate so I can’t help Palestine” WRONG “posting doesn’t matter” WRONG “boycotting won’t actually do anything” WRONG “it’s the government that’s funding the genocide, so I don’t have a way to help” WRONG

I stopped masking last October because I saw my community stop masking. I also figured I was at low risk because I had a flexible WFH job and rarely left the house anyway. Besides, I reasoned, I was fully vaccinated and had already survived three years of the pandemic without catching it.

I caught COVID anyway, probably on a routine trip to the pharmacy.

It was the only time I had left the house in several weeks because I had gotten used to getting most of my goods delivered. I had a few pre-existing conditions and was already struggling with my mental health, so some COVID-era developments made life a lot easier for me.

I have long COVID now. I get breathless when I take the kitchen trash out to the curb. I get fatigued and faint while standing for too long in a line in a public location or even while cooking or washing dishes at home. My cognition has taken a sharp decline. I am constantly fatigued and weak, yet I can't sleep without sedative medication.

I'm uninsured, so I can't afford (or can barely afford) the things that would help me, like cognitive rehab, physical therapy, or a walker.

This is my life for the foreseeable future -- possibly forever.

Don't be like me if you can help it.

Wear a mask.

People like to pretend I will "get better" so they do not have to think about the deadly lie they are living. Abandoning disabled and high-risk people to preventable death is eugenics.

To clarify, this is NOT just an American issue -- think of the "pan" in pandemic.

The MSKCC Library

The People's CDC (weekly weather reports on COVID in the U.S.)

Image IDs available in Alt Text and written out below:

Image ID begins. A black and white cartoon comic titled Pandemic Year 4. This is panel 1. A boy with short hair — Joey, the author of the comic — is holding a Christmas wreath and handing it to his boyfriend, a boy with long hair and a beard, who is standing in a window while decorating. The text reads: This year, my boyfriend and I got fresh pine wreaths from the farmer’s market — our fist big Christmas decorations together!

Panel 2. A hand holds pine needles. Cartoon stink clouds radiate off of the pine needles. The text reads: I break pine needles between my fingers and it smells hideous. Pain shoots through my head.

Panel 3. Joey stands in front of a table on which there are various foods. He looks disgusted and is covering his nose and mouth with his hands. The text reads: This is how I have lived since my February 2020 COVID infection. COVID caused brain and nerve damage, making everything smell and taste like rot. The condition is called parosmia, and it has no cure. Eating is a nightmare.

Panel 4. Joey’s boyfriend, a taller boy with long hair and a beard, puts his hand on Joey’s shoulder. They are shown from behind and are both wearing backpacks and winter coats. The text reads: Last week, my boyfriend walked me home from work midday after I had a near-fainting episode. I wear a heart monitor full-time. Doctors say I’m “too young”.

Panel 5. Joey is shown from behind, sitting sadly and gazing out a window. The text reads: I’ve literally been isolated from the rest of the world for four years. One COVID infection destroyed my life, and I can’t risk another. How can I get you to understand? After becoming disabled by COVID at 19 years old, I have been completely shut off from the outside world.

Panel 6. Joey stands in between two maskless and anonymous figures. Joey looks uncomfortable and is crossing his arms and gazing at them. He is wearing a respirator mask and goggles. The figure on the right is holding a bag labeled “food Joey can’t eat”. The text reads: “Friends” and family who have seen the depth of my suffering for four years have stopped masking and can’t be bothered to care. Family Christmas meant that I had to reiterate daily that I would not and physically could not eat at restaurants.

Panel 7. A drawing of an open laptop, next to which lays an N95 mask. On the laptop, a headline from the Washington Post is displayed. The headline reads: Covid kills nearly 10,000 in a month as holidays fuel spread, WHO says. The comic text reads: This winter has been the 2nd highest peak of the pandemic, with at least 10,000 Americans dying of COVID in December. Playing pretend at “normalcy” is profoundly violent and deadly. Under the comic frame, a citation reads: The Washington Post, January 11, 2024. This is an undercount, as there is no more COVID tracking in the U.S.

Panel 8. A drawing of Joey gesturing at an educational chalk board with a pointer. He is wearing a respirator mask, goggles, and a sweater vest. The text reads: COVID is a virus that causes long-term damage to your organs and nervous system. It’s also a Biosafety Level 3 pathogen, like tuberculosis, meaning that is can be lethal upon inhalation and requires special and serious PPE in Laboratories. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has a digital library of research on COVID impacts. https://libguides.mskcc.org/CovidImpacts/Home

Panel 9. An anonymous figure behind an oration desk is trying to cover a pile of bones behind them. On the pile of bones is a flag that says: Just keep buying and working! The text reads: You are being led to enact violence on your community members by a government who is sacrificing you on the altar of capital. You should be terrified.

Panel 10. A drawing of Joey’s head from the side. he is wearing a respirator mask. The text reads: There is no neutrality in a mass-death and mass-disabling pandemic. Wear a mask or forever be complicit. The comic is dated February 3, 2024. Image ID ends.

Did you just redact the J O H N spelling of the Archivist's name?

this was so funny

frustrate that sometimes people reduce auditory process problems to just , sometimes words is hard understand . because yes that is often big part for people but not only one .

sometimes get so bad for self that might as well not be english language . also have problems know where sounds from , and sometimes even what is in first place . something could be cat or alarm might not know which . like need think in head what make sense for place for time for situation , not just always know what sound is what .

and someone could talk for minute before realise talk , even when hear brain just do not … realise . can be much more struggle than just little bit hard understand words .

( maybe some this influence by other brain stuff and ear stuff . but still . is frustrate lump all down as just small words problem . )

If you are a fan fic writer and you're alright with people making fan art of your fic, reblog this 💚