After reading last week’s paper I was sad to find a misrepresentation of my words in the coverage piece of the freedom march event I attended Wednesday Nov. 3rd in Valemount. To avoid further misunderstandings, further polarity and misinformation to the general public I’d like to state explicitly here that it is not my opinion that “people’s immune systems can handle the virus” because it is quite obvious and clear that many immune systems have shown they cannot.
What I did say is that a healthy functioning immune system can ward off and mitigate a ‘normal’ response to not only covid but countless other viruses, pathogenic organisms and microbes we are continually exposed to via our environment. In fact we are naturally designed to do so. Key word hereâ€healthy. Immune compromised individuals however should and must be supported via a reasonable combination of therapies we have available to us today.
In my view that is not only via vaccination and medicines but would include preventative therapies such as eating a healthy balanced diet that is rich in vitamins, antioxidants and nutrients known to support optimal immune functioning.
It would include fulfilling relationships, healthy exercise and activities that are all part of a healthy balanced lifestyle. It is also important that we look at the impact social isolation is having on our immune systems and on our psychological well being, not to mention the impact this is having on our little ones, our babies and youth.
I would offer an invitation to take a birds eye view to help us consider no matter which side of this discussion we feel forced to be in, we have far more in common than not. We have the capacity in us to look at both sides without making the other wrong or bad. That we can each choose to not actively engage in any fear driven and divisive narratives and strategies that only promote separation, anxiety and outright fear and panic. These stress states, including suicide numbers, are all increasing at alarming rates in our population across the globe. Stress, anxiety and fear impede natural immune functioning via the polyvagal response. We shut down repair, immune and healing phases and instead operate from fight/flight or freeze modes. Simply, our nervous systems attempt to keep us safe. These are hardly the kind of conditions that promote collaboration and problem solving.
I chose to attend the freedom march because I felt it important for me to voice and advocate for the importance of the individual to choose what is best for their body. Alternative approaches or mainstream choices should be up to each individual to decide. I’d like to advocate for a health care system that is open and willing to integrate natural holistic preventative practices and therapies scientifically proven to be beneficial to health. One system need not make the other wrong. Both approaches can coexist and have an opportunity to so beautifully complement one another. And in so doing provide better, more comprehensive and effective health care for us all.
The right to choose which route one wishes to go with in their health plan should and thankfully has been up until recently up to the individual. By attempting to take away this right my heart goes out to my sons and countless others who have been forced into taking a vaccine against their will in order to not lose their jobs and livelihood.
I felt it time to do my part in voicing my concerns against the strong polarity that is being generated in so much of the media today that is providing an incomplete narrative to the public. By pitting vaccinated individuals against the unvaccinated individuals we are dividing families, friends, communities, our country and we are disconnecting from our humanity. We need to provide solutions and narratives that bring us back together. We need to hear one another out and provide narratives that foster and help us understand one another’s perspectives so we can move forward and create win-win situations together. Welcoming open discussions using non violent communication and learning together.
Let’s consider what our actions or inactions are having on our communities, our country, our world, each other and how we have an opportunity to respond positively in the global social, economic and environmental crisis we find ourselves facing. Our choice(s) today are going to impact our children’s generation far into the future. I know that we can do better than this current madness.
I reason that maybe out of all of this chaos we are helping to break down a system that is no longer functioning and chaos is simply the precipice toward the next greater valence of cohesion possible in our evolutionary process. It is a vision I am choosing to hold onto. A greater, more cohesive way of living together that is inclusive, respectful, kind and sustainable. Where we can co-exist, collaborate and co-create with one another and with all of life in a mutual way on this beautiful planet we all call home.
Thank you for your time in reading this. I hope it lands well inside your heart and your mind equally and that you might pick up the phone or reach out to that person who sees differently than you do. And find it in your heart to be present and listen to what each of you have to say. Preferably not both at once! After all, humor is the best medicine.
Ingrid Maria Heise
Jasper, AB
