Letters to the Editor

Letter: Protect yourself

When I was a teenager, back before the Earth cooled, I worked on a Kansas turkey farm. At a certain age, the turkeys were released from their houses and allowed to forage over a post-harvest barley field. Since Kansas was coyote country, the farmer would move one of the turkey houses to the field, and close it off so I could sleep there. My presence was enough to deter marauding coyotes.

But one summer, after turning the turkeys loose in the barley field, the farmer didn’t prepare my sleeping quarters. It was at the end of a long day, and he didn’t want to spend the extra hour. “I’ll leave the turkeys to God’s protection,” he said. That night, coyotes got into his flock and killed 200 birds.

I am reminded of that incident when I hear people refusing COVID-19 vaccinations, saying “I will place myself in God’s care,” or words to that effect. I am a believing and practicing Christian. But I learned on the turkey farm that God is not in the business of shielding people from the consequences of their own folly.

The farmer knew he should prepare my sleeping quarters. He didn’t, and God didn’t shield him from the consequences of his negligence. God and science have given us a COVID-19 vaccine. If you refuse it, don’t expect God to shield you from the consequences of your negligence.

— Dale Gerboth

Anchorage

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