Publisher's Opinion
Above is a video that was posted on Channel 5; a young Mennonite lady doctor from Spanish Lookout who spent years abroad studying for a medical degree and now works at a health center here in Belize, was interviewed and shares her concern about the Covid virus. She is one of the few Mennonites who takes the Covid threat seriously and favors the vaccine. Instead of spending a few hours watching Youtube videos to convince herself, this young woman passionately pursued her dream of being a doctor in order to help her fellow Belizeans. This interview comes at a time when the modern Mennonite colony of Spanish Lookout finds itself in hot water for famously disregarding Covid-19 regulations; both community residents and government officials are stepping carefully around each other, especially since Spanish Lookout is a major commercial hub and has monopolized certain branches of the country's economy. So for this woman to actually step out from her culture and contradict her own relatives required a lot of courage.
At least 5 elderly people have died (from Covid?) in Spanish Lookout in the last 2 weeks, and government police have stepped up their daily patrols through the community.
But the most controversial topic right now is not the elderly who are dying, nor the police patrolling, nor the masks. No, it's the Covid vaccine. Raising the subject in any conversation is like opening a pressure cooker. Of course, most Mennonites are strongly opposed to the vaccine (actually they are against any vaccine: polio, measles, malaria, chickenpox) to the point where some of them have become obnoxious. An excruciating pain in the...well, in the anatomy. Their Whatsapp status, their Facebook and Instagram stories are filled with anti-vaccine propaganda, and advertisements for all sorts of home-made herbal remedies. Apparently watching a few Youtube videos to convince yourself makes you an expert on herbal cures. I'm sure there's plenty of herbs and other natural means of curing Covid or at least build up resistance to it, but the problem with most anti-vax Mennos right now is not necessarily the vaccine itself but the fact that they feel as if the Belizean government is practically shoving it down their throat. Hence their paranoia. If the vaccine was a voluntary thing without visible consequences, it would not have created such a turmoil. As of right now the government has made it mandatory for frontline workers; those who are not frontline have been ordered to submit themselves to a Covid test every two weeks at their own expense and employers have been given rights to demand these tests from workers. To make matters worse, health experts in Belize are currently looking to see if they can pass a bill requiring ALL citizens to be vaccinated without violating any human rights law. No wonder the Mennonites are upset.
How upset they are hit home quite hard when a Mennonite relative from Spanish Lookout demanded to know if my spouse and I were vaccinated, claming that if we were they would not be able to socialize with us because interacting with Covid-vaccinated people causes rash, fatigue, fever and miscarriages on un-vaccinated people. This was one of the most absurd and dumbest theories I had ever heard; naturally I was furious and added some new Plautdietsch words to my vocabulary. However what angered me was the fact that this relative went so far as to declare that if we did receive the vaccine, we were eternally condemned and blinded by Satan. Talk of self-righteous hypocrites. Yet this person is not alone. There are other Mennonites who hold to the same belief that the vaccine is actually a Satanic symbol, i.e. the dreaded mark of the beast without which we will not be able to buy or sell. It certainly does look that way. Then I observe those followers of Christ who are quietly living out their Christian lives calmly accepting the vaccine without changing their beliefs and lifestyles and I am reassured of two things:
1. This vaccine is not the mark of the beast to see who serves God and who doesn't; fearful pandemics have devastated populations since the beginning of time but our human minds are much too small to comprehend why. Equally feared were the cures that scientists discovered. In reality the worldwide Covid virus is not something "new".
2. Since pandemics and the scramble for curative sources have been going on for centuries, receiving the Covid vaccine absolutely does not determine your salvation...but your attitude concerning it can and will affect your spiritual life. Mocking, berating and harshly condemning pro-vaxxers or vice versa is more of a concern than actually taking the vaccine, in my opinion. Ironically while many Mennonites accuse non-Mennonites of living in fear of Covid, they themselves have become paranoid about the vax.
Below are a few other wild theories that some Mennonites believe concerning the vaccine:
It is a microchip designed by Bill Gates that will usher in the New World Order
It is a lethal liquid created by Chinese scientists to experiment on slowly killing off humans
It is made of aborted babies mixed with other chemicals to prevent humans from reproducing
It is a communist agenda used by the left to subdue the world's population
It causes blood clots, seizures, and weakens you permanently (yes, there is some truth in that)
What do I believe? I am not opposed to a vaccine cure for Covid-19 but I sincerely believe that the vaccine should be voluntary. A person should be able to choose or refuse according to what he believes is best for him/her without fear of repercussion from either the government or his local community. We have made our choice not to receive the vaccine due to:
underlying health conditions
personal doubts about its efficiency
concern about long-term side effects
However, we will not stalk around with obnoxious attitudes spreading misinformation either in favor of it or against. We will respect your choice and expect you to respect ours.
A. Mendoza
