Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi made a “personal choice” to forgo a COVID-19 vaccine. I’m going to make a personal choice, too, and respect his right to make that choice.
Even though I don’t agree with it, even though I think it’s easy for him to make that choice because everyone else on the Wings’ roster — not to mention coaching staff and front office — has been vaccinated, and all but 15 players in the entire NHL have been vaccinated as well.
In fact, when Bertuzzi plays this season in front of fans, which I’m assuming he enjoys, it will be because his teammates are vaccinated. But also, because more than half of the fans will be vaccinated — the state of Michigan reports over 67% of people age 16 and over have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
But let’s not stop there.
Bertuzzi will get the full-throated NHL experience, at least in the U.S., because ushers, security personnel, marketing and ticket sales department and hundreds, if not thousands, of people made the “personal choice” to get vaccinated so that the Wings might participate in games in front of real live people.
Which means that Bertuzzi gets to make a “personal choice” because so many other people made a public one and, presumably, considered life beyond the 2-foot-wide column of space they occupy.
[ Ex-Wings goalie Manny Legace details COVID-19 ordeal: ‘I was extremely afraid’ ]
This isn’t an easy consideration, of course. All of us make choices based on one viewpoint: our own. Often this is fine — life can be a one-person show.
But not always, which leads to the central question of any society: Where does private life end and public life begin?
When Bertuzzi says he is making a “personal choice” and when he talks about “freedom,” as he did Thursday, he’s speaking as if he lives on Neptune, by himself, perhaps with his family, whom he “consulted.” And that would be quite a feat living on Neptune, when you remember the planet’s average temperature is minus–373 degrees Fahrenheit, and its air is 80% hydrogen and 18% helium.
This would make the voice a bit squeaky. This would also make the brain a bit fuzzy.
MORE: The truth about COVID-19 vaccines. Everything you need to know.
No, Bertuzzi’s brain isn’t fuzzy. He is clear-headed about not getting the vaccine, even though he didn’t go in depth about why he wouldn’t.
Is it because he’s not a scientist or a doctor? Because when you buck the consensus from the world’s scientists, doctors and public health officials, you risk ridicule.
So it’s easier then to rely on phrases like “personal choice” and “freedom of choice” and a “life choice.” Who doesn’t like those ideas and ideals? no?
Bertuzzi knows this. Millions of others using the same language know it, too.
Freedom is a big word, a tent-pole word. Besides, who doesn’t want freedom?
It’s a word used to defend countless principles and movements, whether deserved or not. Like the push back against seat belt or helmet laws. It’s understandable, in a way. Few like being told what to do.
But let’s think about helmet laws for a minute. It’s true that riding a motorcycle without one can be thrilling, even liberating, and that the wind on the face and the sound of the open road is transformative in the moment.
[ Jakub Vrana hurts shoulder 10 minutes after arriving to camp ]
No wonder lots of riders want that feeling. Insurance companies, on the other hand, support helmet laws because helmets reduce the risk of serious head injury.
Should insurance companies dictate our laws?
No. They can dictate their rates and the scope of their policies.
Yet what about fellow motorists? Say, one who is involved in an accident with a motorcyclist? An accident that kills the motorcyclist? Because the motorcyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet?
That motorist now has to live with causing a death of another human being because that human being wanted the “freedom” not to wear a helmet?
Which matters more in a society?
It’s a difficult question, one that, so far, the NHL has avoided answering, though neither have the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball. The NHL mandated its coaching staffs and front offices get the vaccine, but not its players.
This puts the Wings in a bind, obviously.
“It’s his decision,” Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. “I am not in a position to force anyone. We can’t force anyone to get vaccinated. I personally am vaccinated, my family is vaccinated. I’ll leave it at that.”
MEET THE NEW GUY: Wings G Alex Nedeljkovic’s plan for 2021-22: ‘Make the most of it’
You can read between the lines here. You can even assume Bertuzzi’s stance has frustrated Yzerman and the coaching staff, though it was hard to tell when listening to Jeff Blashill.
“Tyler is a player I love as a person, love as a player,” he said. “He’s a great teammate. The NHL allowed our players to make decisions on this, and that’s the decision Tyler made and we respect it. Obviously, we’d love to have everybody vaccinated because then you don’t lose anybody, but I certainly respect the decision. How will I handle it? Other guys will get opportunity when he cannot play. There’s not a whole lot more to the story than that.”
I understand Blashill supporting Bertuzzi’s choice. No one, especially a coach, wants to appear as though they are against “freedom,” even if the pursuit of freedom seems misguided.
Yet he will have to navigate something not every coach in the NHL will. Fewer than half the teams have a player who isn’t vaccinated, and while the league hopes that number is eventually zero, it doesn’t sound like Bertuzzi will change his mind anytime soon.
This isn’t surprising, either. His doggedness and relentlessness on the ice are what makes him a good player.
I suspect this is true of so many who eschew the vaccination. That some part of what’s made them successful in life, or some part of what’s brought them peace, is also why they’re reluctant to get the shot.
It’s a hard sell for many, as Bertuzzi reminded us again last week. Whatever else you think about his choice, he hasn’t hidden from it, and is willing to lose thousands of dollars because of it.
How do you change the mind of someone willing to risk all that?
You don’t.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.