Yo-Yo Ma and I are fortunate to be 65. Our age-group missed TB and polio. We were too young to serve in Vietnam. But we’re still entitled to a little boost in the vaccination line.
The world marked March 11 as the pandemic’s first anniversary. For me, it was the blessed date of my second shot. It’s good to be alive right about now.
Politicians and celebrities implored me to vaccinate when my turn came. No problem. You’re welcome. My pleasure. It didn’t hurt. It’s been since Thursday and I’ve not felt the slightest physical fallout. I am a thoroughly Moderna man now.
Gratitude fits the moment. Just when people counted our country out, Americans came through. Our former president, who botched America’s pandemic response, was voted out.
Our scientists are aces. American pharmaceutical companies produced efficacious vaccines. Financial markets survived and thrived, bankrolling advances in science and technology.
As observed here last year, Dr. Tony Fauci is a star. He’s short and old, but he stood up tall to our former president. Trump loyalists and radical pro-lifers despise Fauci. But most Americans, including President Biden, trust Dr. Fauci, who is now optimistic, but cautious.
Two weeks post-vaccine, I’ll consider myself a mostly free man. Our personal freedom has never been so constricted. This has been the test of our lifetimes. And I have it easy.
I lived in multiple Denver studio and one-bedroom units in my twenties and thirties. I did not marry till age 38. Now, I could not imagine going through this pandemic without my supportive spouse. Or my comfy house. And some key pals.
My home and work lives have been disrupted. But not like they would have been back during decades raising kids, playing team sports or living for monthly jury trials. My legal practice is considered essential, but for the most part, I can work, and appear in court, from home. I went to actual courtrooms twice last week. It felt familiar, yet different.
Same thing with my lifelong workplace, downtown Denver. Too many government buildings now require security fencing. So many business windows remain boarded. The 16th Street Mall needs every bit of proposed improvement. Colorado has wonderfully weathered the fiscal storm thanks to online shopping, our diversified economy, sports wagering, cannabis and liquor.
Please ignore fraudsters who ridicule Fauci, science and climate change. Notice how the same ignoramuses eschewing vaccines and public health orders are pushing Trump’s Big Lie and denying their hero’s responsibility for the Trump insurrection.
President Joe Biden is the Trump vaccine. His pandemic performance and tone have been nearly perfect. America is on the precipice of warding off concurrent existential crises. Through conversations, columns and broadcasts, I’ve warned of Trump’s threat. Now, I’m imploring everybody to please get vaccinated.
Trump worshippers are avoiding vaccination at alarming rates. The defeated president and Melania, both previously infected, got their shots early and without informing us. Why alienate your base when they pay your way? As PT Barnum perhaps proclaimed, “A sucker is born every minute.” How many deaths is Trump responsible for? Hundreds of thousands?
Colorado has done better than most states. Jared Polis, Joe Biden and Tony Fauci have our best interests in mind. Rejuvenation may be close. The American Rescue Plan doles out more money than Democrats ever conjured in their wildest dreams. Let’s hope it works.
With Biden in charge, there’s plenty of vaccines for everybody in the near future. Restaurants may once again flourish, but when will we really be back to normal? When we feel safe packing the Ball Center watching Nuggets and Avalanche. When theaters come back to life.
It’s hard not to feel optimistic. With this incredible confluence of historic blizzard, new moon, daylight savings time and the imminent arrival of spring, we’re almost liberated. What will we do with our freedom? Appreciate life and people more. That’s my plan.
Especially loved ones! Who was with us in our bubbles? During this warlike year, we will remember those who helped us through. The key friends and neighbors. Our immediate families. Our pets.
What can hold America back now? Neanderthal thinking. Stupid plays like dropping the football before the goal line is crossed. I’ll feel like spiking the football in 10 more days. And soon thereafter, so will you. If you get vaccinated.
Let’s not yet drop our masks. Beware the vicissitudes of viruses and human behaviors. Variants are out there, and every non-vaccinated person invites more. Once again, Trumpism damages America. As Yogi Berra stated and Lenny Kravitz sang, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Julius Caesar abjured that above admonition on his fateful final day. According to Plutarch, and then Shakespeare, a soothsayer famously prophesied danger for Caesar by the Ides (mid-point) of March.
Julius Caesar, on his way to the Roman Senate, saw that soothsayer again on March 15, 44 BC and joked, “The Ides of March be come.” The soothsayer responded, “So be they, but yet are they not past.” It would be wise, today especially, to avoid letting our guards down prematurely.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA who also has worked in the media for decades. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun. He practices law at the Denver law firm of Springer & Steinberg, P.C. and is host of The Craig Silverman Show podcast.
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