Recently Disappointed in Some People

I try not to let people's actions get to me too much, but when they act selfishly and recklessly or are just cruel it's hard not to dwell on them (for a short time). There are 3 people who recently conducted themselves in a not good way that has adversely affected our relationships with them. I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it's hard to do. Today's blog is about those experiences. 

Case 1:  My friend (I'll call him Paul) has known someone  (I'll call "Mark") for over 30 years as acquaintances / on-off friends.  Paul made a lunch date with Mark and set a time and place. Mark confirmed. On the day of the lunch, Paul arrived and waited 40 minutes at the restaurant... meanwhile texting Mark several times to no avail.  After 40 minutes, Paul went home.  

Mark finally texted after an hour and said "I'm here now." Paul texted back that he had left because he was on his lunch hour and thought his friend had forgotten. So Paul suggested another time. Mark's text response was "No, we're done. There will be no other time."  

Bottom Line:    Wow, how rude. The "friend" was to blame, and then severed a 30-year friendship immediately because his selfish needs weren't met. Obviously not a friend of any kind.

Case 2: Friends and acquaintances know we are a gay, married couple who are progressive thinkers and believe in equal rights. Years ago, a good friend of ours married a right-wing conservative man who made it immediately apparent he has no tolerance for gay people. That said, we saw her once since she got married, sadly (and we miss her). 

For some reason, her conservative husband connected to me on Instagram (I didn't know it was him because his user name wasn't his own). I recently posted a photo of President Biden comforting a Ukraine refugee in Poland and he made a very nasty comment about it, also making fun of the President's well-known stutter. 

Bottom Line: I was disgusted. I want no part of right-wing bigots, and I think that people who make fun of others' disabilities are A-holes. (There, I said it). After all, D.J.T. mocked a reporter with a disability, so I know that crude behavior is acceptable to his followers. I'm sad that we lost our friend because of her marriage, but I will treasure the time we had with her.

Case 3:  A friend we've known and cared about for almost a decade and have been very close with, recently revealed that he never got vaccinated against COVID.  Sure, that's his prerogative - BUT over the last 2 years, he led us to believe he was vaccinated and visited our house (at least once over the last 2 years), we have gone to dinner once and he hugs us. 

My issue: this friend knows I have asthma which makes me more susceptible to a drastic case of COVID and I am at higher risk for more severe COVID.  In fact, I did develop bronchitis when I got a breakthrough case (after traveling back from Boston, where I obviously sat next to an unvaccinated guy who kept his mask off the entire hour flight). 

Bottom Line: The friend knowingly and willingly kept his unvaccinated status quiet putting everyone he knows including me and Tom, at risk of getting the virus.  On top of being deceived by someone we trusted and cared about; he bragged about forging a vaccine card to travel (exposing others to a potentially deadly virus).   

Again, I understand it's his right to not get vaccinated. But it's not acceptable that he deceived us into a false sense of security. It's not acceptable that he forged a vaccine card to travel. It's not acceptable that he put countless people at risk for the virus (which he did get and spread). What's more,  he didn't get vaccinated because of his conservative politics.  I'm so disappointed, upset and feel I just can't trust him so I've been avoiding him for now.