Published on: January 13, 2022
From MNB reader Julia Ann Mataras:
I have to weigh in on the pig heart transplant.
My husband received a kidney transplant 11 years ago after being on the transplant list (and dialysis) for 4+ years. Our lives stopped for those years. He would not take a kidney from anyone in the family (including his 3 sons) and insisted on waiting on the list. The average life for a transplanted kidney from a dead person is 12 years. My husband is currently 67 years old.
With covid, our travel/vacation plans have been greatly curtailed- and he looks at it like a death sentence. He just sees the fact that his kidney will be gone in another year or so - and he will be back on dialysis. He does not want to get another kidney transplant- although I am working on changing his attitude about that.
I am very hopeful about the pig transplant. And can only pray that it becomes “mainstream” quickly.
Thanks for sharing your story, which illustrates so vividly that pieces like the one about the pig heart transplant aren't just interesting and aren't just about some abstract notion of life and death. They are about something deeply personal that affects people's lives, and when those people are part of the MNB community, I take it personally.
On another subject, MNB reader David Carlson wrote:
When I have my merchant hat on, I fully agree with your comments about there being no excuse for sending an Orthodox Jew an ad for pork chops, etc. – none of us have the time and resources to waste on ineffective ads. With my consumer hat on, however, I’m comforted (and often amused) that retailers don’t know too much about me.
Fair point. Though ideally, the customer wouldn't even be aware of the editing process … he or she would just see ads and promotions that are relevant.
We had an MNB reader the other day who wrote:
Regarding the rise in covid cases: A friend of mine put it quite succinctly. Obviously with more testing more people are positive with covid. If we had more IQ tests we'd have more idiots, too.
Prompting another MNB reader to write:
Brilliant comment, must be a MBA graduate … too bad the CDC can't cure stupidity.
On a serious note, what we need is to be told after folks get tested and found to be positive, if they tested positive for the delta or the omicron. Since there are big differences in both and thankfully Pfizer’s is working on a vaccine for the omicron today.
While more are getting sick, i.e. testing positive, fewer are dying. Seem those that are dying are still the unvaccinated, the 30 percenters. Interesting to see that the same states that have been in the bottom for testing, vaccinations, non-mask mandates are still there and are asking for the National Guard to come and help.
I'm not sure who you are being tougher on - the unvaccinated, or people with MBA degrees.
Another reader wrote:
I don’t know about you, but I believe that it is simply prudent to stay away from COVIDIOTS.
No question who you are being tough on.
From another reader:
I am a front line worker as well for a large Northeast chain, in Exeter NH, and the problem I have is when any fellow workers get Covid it is a big secret, we aren't told about it, only through whispers and the grapevine. I am immunocompromised, and fully vaccinated, but still don't want to get Covid, for many reasons. I feel like my company is dropping the ball here, my guess is that it's a HIPPA issue?
Also got an email on the subject from MNB reader (and MNB fave) Rich Heiland:
In reading through your comments, and feedback in "Your Views" concerning vaccines...particularly one comment that if vaccines don't prevent us from getting it or passing it one, what's the point?
I am 75 years old, have both Pfizer shots and the booster. Last week I spent a week on a consulting trip to Colorado - airports, airplanes, hotels, restaurants, a team retreat with an optometry practice.
I would not be surprised if I get COVID. The vaccines make no guarantees I won't. But, they do make it likely I will not get as sick. As for transmission, if I transmit to someone who has their shots they are less likely to get seriously ill, be hospitalized or face death. However, if I pass it one to someone who is not vaccinated they could face serious consequences.
This may sound strange, but it bothers me that I could pass something on to an unvaccinated person that could kill them, even if they have chosen not to get the shots.
Exactly.
The discussion - indeed, the world in which we live - reminds me of a passage from Robert Bolt's "A Man For All Seasons" that I have quoted here from time to time over the past 20 years, in which Sir Thomas More says:
“If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we must stand fast a little --even at the risk of being heroes."