When Nothing Makes Sense.

I am trying to find joy in unpredictability and the ever-changing landscape that constitutes reality. It’s rough; I’m finding it hard to plumb a straight line on the truthiness meter, one that hangs at that perfect, precise point between spin and total fiction, the point that says, “this is the real thing.” It is exactly that point which should be the launch pad for how we process information in our new reality. I dare you to find it.

We've been told by the news media that we've lived through epidemics before. Never did have bird, swine, or SARS flu. Had chicken pox but not measles. In fact, I had to get an MMR vaccine before I went to Italy in 2018. But there is one epidemic I do remember in snips and snatches....the one I survived: polio. 

Yes, I am a polio survivor. No, I didn’t need an iron lung and no, I did not wear braces on my legs. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have it...I did. I was just one of the lucky ones whose problems were less visible as a child but developed into bigger issues as an adolescent/young adult. The reason I bring this up is because I was infected in one of the “lesser waves” early in the summer of 1955...when everyone thought the worst was over because the vaccine had been released in April.

The vaccine was released. 

Focus on that phrase. The first effective vaccine was developed in 1952. It was tested on a small group of children and adults on March 26, 1953. Trials were not concluded until the end of March, 1955 and the vaccine released officially on April 12th, 1955, the 10th anniversary of the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the most famous polio survivors. 

Truth is, I was young enough not to know what was going on, but old enough to have some fleeting memories of the experience. The memory that, to this day, terrifies me the most, is one that I know to be true: I shared this disease with our next door neighbor.

I shared this disease.

This was not a good thing. We both survived, but he did a stint in an iron lung and had braces on his legs for years. 

Which makes me watch all these open-up demands with a slightly different understanding of how an epidemic works: there is nothing between you and COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet. There is no established, fool-proof treatment for COVID-19. The little we do know about how it works is how it spreads. 

For example:  one positive COVID -19 person attended a church service near Sacramento. He/she shared this disease with his co-religionists. A week later, 71 of those people who had been at the service were sick. 

It’s not gonna go away. It's going to spread further and faster because people are proving to be cattle when it comes to social distancing and respecting boundaries. Removing the rules will mean a return to the old normal. Only the old normal temperature won't be and there will be spikes in every state. As of this moment, just look at Florida. 

COVID-19 might slow for a time, but it will come roaring back in late fall or winter. All it takes is one person sneezing or coughing in the wrong place. What scares me the most is that we have scientifically progressed enough to know this is coming back but few want to recognize it for what it is: virulent. 

Russell Senate Office Building
Washington.,D.C. July 19, 2019
CNS Photo/Tyler Orsburn

Not all that long ago, not in a galaxy far, far away, but right here in this country people were all wrapped up protesting about the treatment of immigrant children by ICE. Arrested, denigrated, and mocked at rallies by Feckless Leader, lots of these folks went to jail just like other civil rights protesters have done for the last six or seven decades. For the most part, these folks weren’t threatening government officials or workers with bodily harm. Most of the time they were staging sit-in type activities. That’s not to say barbs were not exchanged or insults hurled at others, but there wasn’t a whole lotta violence going on. That would have been counter-intuitive to the purpose. These were folks advocating for life safety at places were large numbers of children separated from their families were inhumanely treated. Our government, led by a cadre of a miscreants, labelled these people enemies of the state. For voicing their objections to inhuman treatment of children. That treatment has  not stopped, in fact, it has been escalated.

Michigan State Capitol
April 30th, 2020
Reuters: Seth Herald

Ten months later, armed militias stormed the state house in Lansing, Michigan, legally carrying a variety of guns and armaments.  and instead of mass arrests, the capitol police did nothing. A week later, when the protesters were coming back, the in-session Michigan legislature closed up shop and ran away. Once again, they were not arrested. They will not be prosecuted. Look at the picture: is that the US...or some country in South America? 

This collection of walking, talking assholes stood in the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing and by their very presence, threatened the government of a state. Not because they were upset about the treatment of other human beings. Not because they were concerned about a pandemic. Not because they were worried millions of people are out of work and have lost health insurance. But because they could not go out to a bar. Or get a haircut. Or a tattoo. 

Clearly, they don't give a shit about Mom, Dad, Grandma, or Grandpa. The only thing that matters is beer. And tats. 

Welcome to New America. 

Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., Feckless Leader has prescribed himself some hydroxychloroquine. The stuff has a lotta side effects: 

·      slow heartbeat

·      symptoms of heart failure (such as shortness of breath swelling ankles/feet unusual tiredness unusual/sudden weight gain)

·      mental/mood changes (such as anxiety depression rare thoughts of suicide hallucinations) hearing changes (such as ringing in the ears hearing loss) easy bruising/bleeding signs of infection (such as sore throat that doesn't go away fever)

·      signs of liver disease (such as severe stomach/abdominal pain yellowing eyes/skin dark urine) muscle weakness

·      unwanted/uncontrolled movements (including tongue/face twitching)

·      hair loss

·      hair/skin color changes.

I doubt anyone would notice.  We can only hope...they don't.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Wearing a mask only works if you cover your nose AND mouth. 

Leaving one orifice exposed sorta negates the whole deal.