Received in my Facebook Page today as a message:
Dear Tita de Bacolod:
First off, this is quite funny. I am writing to you as if I were a young newlywed seeking advise from an auntie who has weathered the highs and lows of marriage for some kind of marital problem. In actuality, I may be older than you, Tita. In addition, this has nothing to do about marriage.
I am writing to you about how the world has changed because of technology and how what was meant to bring us together actually pulls us apart. I am referring to an incident which has taken place in our Viber group.
Years ago, us ladies were just so glad to be reunited through Viber in an old friends group. I can't even say this is a batch Viber group, just an old friends group chat. All was well until the pandemic. At first all of us were supportive and encouraging one another. Then as the months went by last year, some started losing their husbands due to COVID-19. This was long before there was any discussion about vaccines.
Then early this year, the vaccines started arriving in the Philippines. This was when all of a sudden, one of our friends in the Viber group suddenly took on a Jeckyl and Hyde personality. From the kind person we have known her to be, she has all of a sudden become an inconsiderate and rabid Anti-Vaxxer. Fed with all these YouTube links coming from her son, she keeps spamming the Viber group with conspiracy theories and unfounded statements to the dismay of the other group members.
Finally, most of us in the group knew that the tipping point had come when one morning, two of the three friends recently widowed left the group. I feel for them after hearing all these Anti-Vax statements when at the back of their minds, they could be thinking, "If only my husband were inoculated last year, maybe I wouldn't have lost him".
I understand our friend's position for being Anti-Vax and respect that. However, there is so much insensitivity in the way the Anti-Vax agenda is being pushed in the presence of friends who have lost dear ones, the rock of their families, the loves of their lives. Cause for our two friends to simply pull out from the Viber group for obvious reasons.
Our friend Helen (not her real name) still sends us YouTube videos without fail.
What would you do, Tita?
Stay Safe!
Mary
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