Here, Piggy Piggy!
Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog
Okay, so now the Swine Flu is to be known as the H1N1 virus. Every time I look at that it reads (for a split second) and the “Hiney Virus”. As in, you know, kiss your hiney good bye…
While part of me is glad that people who make the decisions are taking this seriously, and the possibility of a pandemic is a serious thing, so they should be concerned, the other part of me is rolling its eyes and groaning.
That’s the peril of living through several scares like this, one becomes a little…weary…of hyperbole.
It doesn’t help that this was known as the Swine Flu. I was 16 in 1976, and went through that panic with some trepidation. In the end, of course, the pandemic didn’t occur and more people ended up dying from the vaccine (rushed through without proper testing by the government), than died of that particular strain of flu.
Is it just me, or do crises seem to be as common as Mesothelioma lawyers on late night TV lately?
People die from flu every year. I wish we would get as proactive and concerned about their deaths as we seem to be over the possibility of this flu strain. 1918 was a long time ago, and we’ve a few things in our favor that should help ensure that a pandemic like the one in 1918 will not be as deadly or perhaps as wide spread as that terrible plague. (Y’all, more people, esp soldiers died of the flu than in any battle of the first World War.) First, there’s TV, radio and the Internet to make sure everyone knows about what’s going on (and what’s not going on), and secondly, our medical options are a lot more potent and effective.
Be cautious, yes. Some of us have to be cautious all the time, as we’d be susceptible to even common strains. Don’t be panicky. This is (Oh dear God, I hope) a natural foe of humanity, one that we’ve been battling for many, many human lifetimes.
Wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough. Be mindful. Stay at home if you’re sick (none of us wants your cold, much less the flu), and take care of yourself.
