"This game is for keeps. All prizes are final.”

*** “They put dad next to mom, and they put mom’s hand on top of dad’s, and my sister and I and her three children and my daughter were in there. We may have not seen each other every day, but we talked every day, and now… there’s nothing. I mean, nothing whatsoever.” --Nikki Jensen, daughter, on burying both parents on the same day. Joe and Evelyn Chaisson died together on August 27 in Sulphur, Louisiana, leaving behind Nikki and her sister to cherish their memory. Joe and Evelyn were not vaccinated. 

 *** Martin Daniel, 53, and his wife Trina, 49, died together on July 6 in Savannah, Georgia, orphaning two teenage children. Martin and Trina were not vaccinated. 

*** Barbara Finch died on September 10 in Bangor, Maine. Her husband Robert died two days later on September 12. Barbara and Robert orphaned three children. Barbara and Robert were not vaccinated. 

*** Davy Macias, 37, died on August 26 in Yucaipa, California. Her husband Daniel, 38, died two weeks later on September 9. Davy and Daniel orphaned five children, ages 7, 5, 3, 2, and a baby born while Davy was intubated. Davy and Daniel were not vaccinated. 

*** Charletta Green, 44, died on Labor Day while in Florida on vacation. Her husband Troy, also 44, still in Detroit planning to join her later, on the beach, instead, joined her in Heaven eight hours later. Charletta and Troy orphaned seven young children. Charletta and Troy were not vaccinated. 

 *** Lydia Rodriguez, 42, died on August 2 in Galveston, Texas. Her husband Lawrence, 49, died two weeks later on August 16. Lydia and Lawrence orphaned four children. Lydia and Lawrence were not vaccinated because they “didn’t believe in vaccines.” 

*** Tris Graham, 45, died on August 25 in Huntsville, Alabama. Her husband Dusty, 45, died three weeks later on September 16. Tris and Dusty orphaned their two children, Windsor and Gabe. Tris and Dusty were not vaccinated because “the U.S. Constitution is my passport.” 

*** Brenda Smalls, 38, died on September 6 in Aiken, South Carolina. Her husband Marcus, 44, died a week later on September 13. Brenda and Marcus orphaned seven small children. Brenda and Marcus were not vaccinated because Brenda felt it sufficient to rebuke Covid in prayer: “I curse the coronavirus at its roots and command it to shrivel up and die, in the name of Jesus.” 

*** Shannon Berardis, 50, died on August 22 in Statesboro, Georgia. Her husband Billy, 50, died sometime before September 16. Shannon and Billy orphaned their five-year-old son, Elijah. Shannon and Billy were not vaccinated because Shannon "would not let the government tell me I need to be vaccinated against their bullshit.” 

*** Carla Smith, 62, died in Piedmont Newnan hospital on August 21. Her husband Clint, 62, died two days later on August 23 in Wellstar Lagrange hospital. The different hospitals kept the nurses from “putting dad next to mom, and putting mom’s hand on top of dad’s.” Carla and Clint were not vaccinated because the Pentecostal couple believed the vaccines contained the Mark of the Beast. Their orphaned daughter, who had begged her parents to get vaccinated, expressed her exasperation in their joint obituary she wrote for McKoon Funeral Home in Newnan, Georgia: “Clint and Carla loved Jesus. Clint and Carla were gone far too soon. The family believes their deaths were preventable, if they had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine. Their daughter Elana would particularly like to encourage friends, family, and anyone reading this to get vaccinated so that your sons and daughters never have to feel this kind of pain.” 

*** Jeffery Hager, 46, died on September 10 in Huntersville, North Carolina. His wife Amee died eight days later on September 18. Jeffery and Amee orphaned four children, Garrett 14, Addison 13, Jackson 7, Emmery 6. Jeffery and Amee were not vaccinated. On their final CaringBridge entry, Amee's parents pleaded with parents to get vaccinated: "If you are not vaccinated…..please go and get it. You cannot be replaced! Don't leave your families behind to deal with this kind of pain and grief!" 

*** Derrick Wallace, 46, died on August 9 in Liberty, Texas. His wife Jessica, 40, died ten days later on August 19. Derrick and Jessica orphaned their teen daughter, Madison. The Pentecostal couple were not vaccinated. With extreme poise and commendable composure, Madison stood behind her parents’ open caskets at The Anchor Pentecostal Church in Beaumont and thanked them for their love, expressed by her father in “traditional ways” and [awkward giggle] “making fun of me” and “buying five boxes of the Pop-Tarts he knew I liked.” 

Twelve couples dead. Thirty-nine children orphaned. Lives cut short in their prime. Lives left behind shattered. For what? For nothing. I mean nothing whatsoever. There is no worthy sacrifice; there is no honorable cause. None of these people rushed into a burning building to save children; none drowned trying to pull a stranger from the ocean; none were on the front lines in hospitals before a vaccine was available. 

There will be no hospital wings named after them; no bridges carrying their names over troubled waters; no ships christened in their honor. They died for nothing. I mean nothing whatsoever. They threw away their own lives and forever wrecked the lives of those left behind in the wake of their prideful, selfish obstinance. 

The virtually-risk-free highly-effective vaccine was free of charge and freely-available to all twelve couples as of April. All have died since July. Their deaths were entirely and easily preventable. 

My anger at ignorance is checked by the heartbreak of those needlessly orphaned. Pop-Tarts. The innocence. The shocked inability to grasp the permanency. Madison chose Calum Scott’s “You Are The Reason” to play on loop as church members filed by the two open coffins, pausing to hug her. It’s a song of a person left behind; a person desperately struggling under the guilt and weight of knowing he drove away the love of his life; a shattered person begging for a return of life as it was. 

“There goes my heart beating/ 'Cause you are the reason I'm losing my sleep/ Please come back now /“And there goes my mind racing /And you are the reason/ That I'm still breathing/ I'm hopeless now/ “I'd climb every mountain/ And swim every ocean/ Just to be with you/ And fix what I've broken/ Oh, 'cause I need you to see/ That you are the reason.” 

Evangelicals, preoccupied with the afterlife, don’t seem to grasp the finality of earthly death. These people are not coming back from the grave when they finish 'owning the libs' by proving they have the 'medical freedom' to refuse life-saving treatment. There will be no third-day resurrection for those whose 'own research' contained a fatal error. 

This game is for keeps. 

 All prizes are final.” --Cree Hardegree