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Dateline: Wuhan, China, December 12, 2019.\nA cluster of patients with shortness of breath and fever were discovered in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, China. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has its laboratories in that city. And so it began.
\nRemember when the Childrens Television Network show Sesame Street started in 1969? It had a cute sign-off at the end of each show. So to steal from that, \u201cThis column is brought to you by the letter \u201cC\u201d and the
\nnumber \u201c19\u201d. COVID-19.
\nThis month marks the naming of the world-wide pandemic that had the catchy name of \u2018novel coronavirus.\u2019 It was determined by an official of The World Health Organization (WHO.. could this acronym be any more ironic?) in China (wonder \u2018who\u2019 that guys is.. or was?) that this was likely (love that \u2026\u201dlikely\u201d) to be the causative agent for that infectious disease.
\nNo, I am not making this up. Check it out for yourselves at cdc.gov\/museum\/timeline\/covid19.html. Which by the way, has a cautionary note at the top saying that it is now\u2026 wait for it\u2026 closed. I could go on with this line of angst, but let me switch gears here. And I apologize for the prolific use of \u2018parentheses.\u201d
\nSo it\u2019s been just over two years since we have been in this mess. Going from the World Health Organization to our Center for Disease Control, from one United States president to another United States president, from Wuhan to San Francisco to Los Angeles to New York to Italy to Africa to\u2026 well, to every place in the world that has air and people to breath it.
\nWe have worn masks, closed schools and businesses, gotten vaccines and now boosters, 5, 500,000 have died world wide and 50,000,000 have gotten sick. We\u2019ve flattened the curve and seen infection spikes, lost many elderly in the first run and now losing people of all ages.
\nWe\u2019ve heard terms like \u2018anti-vaxxers\u2019 and \u2018follow the science.\u2019 Saw travel bans called \u2018racist and evil\u2019 and now \u2018wisely following an abundance of caution,\u2019\u2026 by the same politicians! Know of businesses that have folded, others that have grown (mask producers, sanitizer manufacturers, tent makers, testing kit developers, heck, Charmin, Inc!, to name just a few.)
\nSuffered within families among those who took pandemic seriously and those who just didn\u2019t get what the big deal was all about. Worked through Remote Learning being the order of the day in schools at all levels. Watched as parents, school boards and administrators and teachers tore at each others throats. Lived with people earning their wage while still in their pajamas in their basements.
\nAnd how\u2019s about them there variants, so popular these days? The Greek alphabet is getting a workout, and we\u2019re only up to Omicron! And the letter \u2018C\u2019? Stands for crazy and confusion and chaos and Covid and crap and conflict and cognitive dissonance and cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, which by the way we don\u2019t have to wipe the box off with towelettes anymore.
\nAnd the kids, oh, Blessed Lord, the poor kids. Masks to see Grandma, wear them in school, then out, then in again, then maybe out again? I lose track. Losing senior years, proms, scholarships\u2026 some, losing friends.
\nThe parents, oh, the Parents, especially of school-aged kids, juggling their jobs with now being teachers and trying to make sense of third grade math.
\nThe letter \u201cF\u201d\u2026 frustration, fear, failure, and well\u2026 you know.
\nSo what now? More variants? Probably. More switcheroos by the \u2018experts\u2019? Yes, of course. More illness, death and confusion? Yep, stay tuned.
\nSorry to sound so negative here. Sure wanted this to be a positive word for 2022 when I started out back about 650 words ago. But I am not in a happy place with all this. Nosiree, not at all.
\nLet me attempt to end with some perspective, as I try to crawl out from under the comforter.
\nOur world has survived some crazy junk. Depressions galore. World-wide wars, hot and cold. Spanish flu and many plagues.
\nWorld-class idiots and Politicians. (Did I just repeat myself?) Somehow, we the people of the world have continued.
\nI think I need to pray to The Big Virologist in the Sky to please send a new day to the inhabitants of this third rock from the Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"