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Anti-vaccination "passport" protesters in Prince George yesterday, one of a number of groups who gathered outside B.C. hospitals to heckle healthcare providers, some of whom are working to save the lives of those just like them -- the Great Unvaccinated. Note the sign: MY BODY/ MY CHOICE/ PERIOD!

I remember seeing signs like this on TV leading up to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states the U.S. Constitution protects a woman's right to abort her fetus without government interference (Roe vs Wade). But to see that sign today, when the State of Texas has enacted laws that prohibit the majority of abortions, and when the "choice" to get vaccinated will save not only your life but the lives of others. To which some will respond, as one did years ago when I accompanied a friend to a Victoria Drive abortion clinic: My son committed suicide because his ex-girlfriend aborted their child without telling him! Or, as someone from the neighbourhood told me last night: It's not the vaccine so much as the vaccine passport they want us to carry. Why? So they can track us! To which I asked, Do you use a credit card? (They do.) Are you on FaceBook? (They are.) Do you go to concerts, movie theatres, sporting events or gyms? (They don't.) So it's out of concern for others that you are protesting vaccine passports? No, they told me, it's because of government interference. To which I added, The same Canadian government that covered/interfered in the cost of the surgery you had a couple years ago, the one you would have had to re-mortgage your house for if you were living in -- Texas?

And so it goes, these conversations, excited by an internet of world events, many more of them available to us as soon as they are happening, and our wiring being what it is, short-circuiting, smoke coming out our ears. Some will adapt, and we will evolve to be either more tolerant of others or more aggressive in our passions. Or both. Thus furthering the extremes that have come to characterize our time and place.