We might want to pull out our dusty copy of Nostradamus. Lots of people are reading Revelations. But, no matter what theory exists to which you subscribe, we definitely are witnessing something that is unprecedented in our lifetimes, the impact of which will leave an indelible impression in our memories and in the history books.
I just hope that I survive this period and can discuss this with my grandson, as my grandmother discussed events in her life with me, with her perspectives about those things that happened. Mainly, I remember that she told me about when the political parties flip-flopped – not yet in her lifetime, but close enough to it that it mad an impression, as it has on my memory of that – as we move through these times.
Like 9/11 – a situation that really blew everyone’s minds, we now have something that is affecting everyone with uncertainty and causing everyone to have to re-tool their current day lives in order to adapt and survive through it. We will see mistakes made. We will see that there will be new permanent practices put into place, just like after 9/11. There will be new layers of screening and restricting movements of humans from one place to another, and in a place, whether someone can enter an area or a building.
Just reading about the Spanish Flu, last night before I fell asleep (not recommended – why did I do this? didn’t mean to…). Well, that was ugly. Just when people were thinking that the flu outbreak was resolving, the damned thing mutated and came back with a vengeance and killed off a bunch more people everywhere.
The article itself was about some medical researchers who are going back to exhume some bodies of victims out of the permafrost in a place where several were buried. They will use modern technology to locate the bodies and exhume them, take tissue samples – essentially “cores” from different parts of the bodies, to understand better now, using the capabilities of studying the DNA and all that goes with this new biotechnology. Hopefully, the virus will not be released and they will not carry this back to wherever they originated and we end up with a new problem. That would not be helpful.
But, these folks can hopefully learn some things that will enable us to cope better with these nasty bugs that seem to be a microscopic army intent upon invading the earth and taking victims as they engage in these big battles.
I’m sure that some things we’ve learned from this experience, to date include:
- (Number 1) don’t eat weird animals that are wild and alive when you take them home. You don’t know where they’ve been and what kind of disease that they may carry that you can get from them (nasty surprise). This also makes me want to reconsider sushi. NEXT…
- (Number 2) don’t go to work, conferences, parties, meetings, etc., if you are feeling ill. If people find out that you infected a bunch of people, because you were being a dork, it won’t bode well for you later – but, what is worse is that you might actually infect someone who might actually die of the virus disease. You won’t feel good about that. So, stay home.
In our culture we have this tendency to be stoic and “get through it” – permeating the work culture is this notion that employers of all sizes seem to have – they don’t want to pay people to stay home – they don’t think strategically – they just look upon it as lost productivity and money loser cost sinks – when in fact, paying that person to stay home when they are ill could in the end save the employer a LOT of money and reduce downtime. But, unfortunately, a lot of employers do not think like that. They think only about their own personal bottom lines (corporate executives fall into this trap), and everything is from that perspective. I know I am starting to sound a bit like Bernie, but truly, corporate executives need to think about the greater good of their businesses and what this does to the economy overall.
I’ve talked about my aversion to going on cruises and to cruise ships in general. I’m going to start up a page that has all of my reasons on it. I really do think that it deserves its own page. In the meantime, each day I will be adding to the pandemic diaries page. After reading David Foster Wallace’s short story called Shipping Out, in the collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, it got me to thinking about that idea of cruise ships and cruises. I really had never thought that I would do well on a cruise. I’m to fidgety and I don’t like the idea of being in a vast ocean on a boat, for starters. I guess the Titanic story really gets to me. Also, the idea of being cooped up with people like that doesn’t appeal. I’m not too cool when I can’t get out and wander… So, anyhow, any mention of doing that, I usually defer and substitute another idea. There are people who swear by them, but now, maybe not so much.
There are lots of things that are human behaviors and frailties that will contribute to the spread of this virus. Because everyone is still learning about it, what it does, how to stop it, and such, it’s a rolling knowledge base – unfolding daily.
We use our tools, of learning, of understanding what it means in context, and our emotional intelligence, to discern how to stay safe – yet be prepared to change and adapt, and especially, not deny that this is real. Anyone who does that at this point is very foolish – I’m just sayin’… This is definitely new territory for us all.
