This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If you support Covid vaccines, have you ever tried to reason with someone who doesn’t”

I have tried once or twice, without success.  It seems to be a lost cause.  So, usually, I just shut up and move on, while, of course, maintaining social distance with my mask on.

Among pro-vaccine arguments, I have tried:

• To argue for science – and the credibility of what scientists are recommending.

• To argue for saving their own lives.

• To argue for not making a personal decision that risks the well-being, if not the lives, of others.

• To argue for retaining the ability to maintain contact with family and friends.  (And, in some cases, according to stories I have heard those who oppose vaccines, thus don’t get them, cannot even see their grandchildren in person.)

One of the challenges of our current lives is that there is way to know whether someone in a group of which you are a part has been vaccinated or not.  In one of the groups, I know three friends who have not been vaccinated and are continuing to do so.   I have not sought the information about the identify of these persons; it has come to me anecdotally.

Often, when we stories about vaccine skeptics, they change their tune after contracting the virus.  One such story appeared in a recent on-line edition of a KGW-TV report.  It said this:

“Former COVID-19 vaccine skeptic changes outlook after virus kills his dad, nearly kills him:  Brandon Stallsworth, 31, grew up in Warrenton near Astoria.  He lives in Newberg now with his wife and young son.

“Earlier in the pandemic, he was someone who’d say that you don’t need a COVID shot.  He was unvaccinated and he said he told many friends not to bother with the vaccine.  Then in July, Brandon got sick and ended up spending 10 days in the hospital with COVID.

“He was first admitted to Providence hospital in Newberg and then, as he got worse, he was transferred to Providence St. Vincent in Portland. Brandon survived.

“His father, Ted Stallsworth, was not as fortunate.  He had also been hospitalized with COVID and died August 19.  After his experience, Brandon said he’s changed his views on the COVID vaccine.  He said he won’t insist anyone get the vaccine, though he now thinks they should. ‘Why not do it?  Why not save yourself from the pain?  I wouldn’t want this on my worst enemy,’ he said.”

The obvious point is that it’s too bad that someone has to go through a bout with the virus before reaching what should have been a previous and easy decision – get vaccinated.

My hope is that my friends who refuse the vaccine don’t have to get the virus to change their minds.