From the Publisher

After a 19-month pandemic engagement, my son Bear got married on September 18, 2021. The wedding was in a magical setting north of New York City at Cedar Lakes Estate where 300 guests from 121 cities gathered to wish the bride and groom well. Ironically, the location is a former campground that was purchased by two sisters and transformed into a luxury venue -- and just a mile or so from where I cried myself to sleep at my first sleep-away camp experience at the no-longer-open Camp Cejwin in Port Jervis, N.Y.

We had all thought COVID would be well under control by this point but it spiked again shortly before the big day. We decided collectively to mandate a strict COVID protocol. All guests had to be vaccinated and/or have a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to the wedding weekend. The protocol was rigid, but considering my son and his now-wife attended a wedding just five weeks prior, and they both were exposed to Covid and subsequently tested positive, we thought that was appropriate.

On multiple occasions leading up to the wedding weekend, our rigid protocol and determination to host the wedding in as safe a way as possible was tested by family and friends. Some called and told us they would not be able to come. Others said they were not vaccinated and did not plan to be vaccinated. And still others said they would not be able to get a PCR test within 72 hours of the wedding and wondered if it would still be okay to come.

Even as I write this, I am continually amazed at the large numbers of people who make this pandemic a personal platform for freedom, individual rights, and sheer defiance. Schools are divided, employers are being forced to choose a side, wedding planners arrange seating by the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, and cities and counties can’t live by the same rules even as their citizens watch the mounting death tolls among the unvaccinated.

For me, what I don’t understand is why some people think the pandemic and the vaccination process is an evil plot by other countries, our own government, the pharma industry, healthcare, or another political point of view. What is the benefit to anyone to propagate such social, financial, and political destruction? And ironically, of the 93 million people who are unvaccinated, the majority have been vaccinated multiple times in their life for measles, rubella, mumps, influenza, tetanus, and an array of other diseases.

I used to believe that most people want the same things from life: safety, security, and a better place for their children and countrymen. I have been called idealistic before, so I don’t mind being called idealistic now. Can’t we all do what is best for the greater good and get over our individual biases? If not now, how will we deal with a global environmental crisis, manage mental illness, cure cancer, solve poverty, or simply follow the rules of the road while driving our cars?

As you look at the pictures of my son’s wedding (see page 30), I hope you will think about what we can do to convince our families, friends, and neighbors to get vaccinated and win this war against two formidable enemies: the COVID virus and human nature. We are so close but yet so far away to a solution.

So many people go into medicine, serve in the armed forces, become police officers, firefighters, and EMTs putting themselves in harm’s way so that others may live. The least we can do is help. If you don’t agree, please let me know why. I would love to have a two-way conversation about this and many other subjects.

From our larger family to yours, stay safe and have a joyous holiday season and New Year with those who mean the world to you.

Craig M. Kaminer, Publisher craig@slmag.net