Vaccination Day

I just received my second dose of Moderna's vaccine.

I just received my second dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. As others have related, getting the vaccine was an emotional experience.

Driving back from the appointment in Fontana, I passed on listening to audiobooks (Farnsworth’s The Practicing Stoic and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov) and blasted music instead. I felt hope for the future, relief at having made it through the pandemic without getting sick, and excitement for approaching events: seeing my family in Michigan for the first time in over a year, traveling to Japan for a long-delayed honeymoon, going to bars and concerts again, etc.

I also took a moment to feel amazed at and grateful for human accomplishment, especially scientific accomplishment. What people do and have done with their minds is astonishing. Developing vaccines for a new disease in just a year was an unprecedented, historic feat, and scientists and their supporters (including the governments that invested in purchasing early doses) pulled it off.

This achievement serves as a useful reminder: we should always be cultivating our minds and turning them toward useful ends. Vaccines were made possible by education, curiosity, and perseverance in the pursuit of understanding.

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Ryan McCarl (LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog) is an attorney and educator in Los Angeles who is committed to lifelong learning and growth. If you’d like to receive my new posts by email, please click the button below to subscribe. Subscriptions are free unless you choose to pay:

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