We hear stories about selfish every day-allow me to offer two stories of selflessness and hope.
A Florida man's last wish before dying of COVID-19 was to get the vaccine. To honor his memory, his family is turning his funeral into a vaccine and testing event to protect the community against the deadly virus. Marquis Davis, a 28-year-old business owner and father, died on July 26 from COVID-19. He was not vaccinated at the time.
(His wife) Charnese Davis said their church, Faith Temple Christian Center in Rockledge, approached her about offering the vaccine and COVID-19 testing at his wake and memorial. She was immediately on board.
“Now we’re seeing things completely shift with this delta variant. [Marquis] was 28 years old, had the rest of his life in front of him, and because of COVID-19, specifically this delta variant, and he was not vaccinated, his life was cut short,” Dr. R. Shaun Ferguson, the pastor of Faith Temple Christian Center, told ABC News.
The crushing part of this story is when Charnese turns to Marquis, after he says he will get the vaccine when he gets out, and says, “I’m so happy you said that but its too late.”
There is another church yesterday that did something similar, only the circumstances inspiring it were far more alarming.
A church in Jacksonville, Florida, held a free vaccination clinic on Sunday after six of its members died of COVID-19. Impact Church’s Pastor George Davis told Jacksonville-based WJXT in an interview on Friday that the churchgoers were all unvaccinated.
“In the last 10 days, we have had six members of our church who passed away from COVID. Four of them were under the age of 35. All of them were healthy, and the only thing they had in common was they were not vaccinated,” Davis said.
He estimated that between 15 and 20 church members were in the hospital and at least 10 more were battling the virus at home.
Four of them under 35. The Delta variant is for some people, a zero sum game. Either get the vaccine, or..well..it can go south fast.
However sad these circumstances, I found their willingness to reach out and assist their communities overall to be a bit of uplifting inspiration and wanted to share it with my family here, to hopefully, start your week on a positive note to see that people in this country still do care, and look out for each other.
Charnese and her church saved lives, and I have no doubt Impact Church’s actions will have too and I say that without hesitiation. That we know people like this are out there gives me hope to beat this thing yet.
In the midst of noise created by rampant self-centeredness, these are two acts of selflessness. And we must remember one thing:
We get to choose what echoes.
-ROC
I am weak, dealing with a stretch of fatigue I have been unable to pinpoint. We continue to monitor for cancer recurrence. This is the only living my health allows me to earn and I appreciate you. My newsletter is unaffected. Sign up here to subscribe! It publishes every Wednesday and is full of original reporting, laughs, and fun!
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-ROC