I have to admit, all the recent news coverage of the Avian Flu and fears of a global pandemic have got me worried.
It is darkly amusing to watch the news crews interviewing someone from the CDC outlining a bleak forecast about the spread of the Avian Flu, only to take a commercial break to advertise Disney’s animated “Chicken Little”, it is like getting a double dose of “the sky is falling”.
Mother nature has always found a way to prune her dead wood and to return balance; I just don’t want it to happen in my lifetime or the lifetimes of my children. But Mother Nature thinks very little of my opinion.
It is not the fact that these viruses exist that frightens me; it’s the news coverage and the doomsayers in the government and medical communities that seem to eagerly spew predictions of mass death on a global scale. It all seems plausible, species jump, mutation, and insufficient anti-viral vaccines resulting in a pandemic that rivals the Black Plague.
I suppose it is only a matter of time before we end up wearing surgical masks out in public like many of the Japanese do. At least we would benefit from food handlers being a little more concerned about washing their hands. That is about the only benefit I can see from all the hype.
One of two things is happening, either we are listening intently to Chicken Little or the news, government and medical communities are scared stiff and playing out a major case of “cover your ass”. In any case, we (the public) are left with little we can do except worry.
Not that worrying is going to change anything…I have just decided not to wait. I’m not going to hesitate a moment longer. I’m going to start worrying right now, that way if the flu doesn’t get me, the ulcers and elevated blood pressure will.
So if you’ll excuse me, I feel the need to go wash my hands.
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