58,220

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Yesterday afternoon I decided to look up the casualty count for the U.S. in the Vietnam War,  The apparent official number is 58,220.

An hour or so later the CBS news update showed over 1,000,000 COVID-19 cases, and over 58,300 deaths from the disease.  Of course the worldwide figures are much higher.  And this is just beginning.

The same day action was taken to reopen meat-packing plants, the latest battlegrounds for the virus; at the same time taking action to limit liability against the corporations owning the plants if employees who come back to work are affected by the disease because of hazardous working conditions.

And the news was full of careless ignorance by the President of daily Presidential Briefings which began to sound the alarms about COVID-19 in the earliest days of 2020.

Vietnam was a war to defeat the Communists, at least so I remember.  And we lost.   Today’s is a different kind of war.  Our “soldiers” are sent to fight and to die to buttress the economy; to supposedly make America great again; to save a regime in an upcoming election.  One side will so assert; the other will attempt to deflect and deny….  So it goes.

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In a matter of months we’ve lost more from COVID-19 than we did in many years of the Vietnam War.  Anyone in their 60s, or older, can remember this past from living experience.  In my case, I was a military veteran who was in the Army in the early 1960s, but had completed my tour a few years before my Unit actually was deployed to Vietnam.  I learned later that its fate was typical.

Two brothers were Air Force officers and served in Southeast Asia during their active duty time, one was injured on duty.

It happened that my time in service coincided with the preparation for combat in Vietnam.  I didn’t know this at the time, but my entire time in Company C, 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in suburban Colorado Springs CO was helping prepare an Infantry Division for combat over there.  We played war; we didn’t have to dodge real bullets.  Downstairs I have a certificate signed by Donald Rumsfeld certifying me as a Vietnam-era veteran – I saw it just a few days ago.

My barber was a combat Marine in Vietnam in later 1960s.  His kid brother also joined the Marines, went to Vietnam, and in less than a year died in combat.  His name is on the Wall in D.C., and a similar war on the State Capitol grounds in Minnesota.

Tom and I talk about the military each time I get a haircut.  We’re brothers in a real sense.  He is on military disability: his disability seems to be mostly fear of confinement in close spaces, claustrophobia.  He’s a short guy, and was perfect for ‘tunnel rat’ duty in Nam.  Every time they went on guard duty, or on patrol, over there, could be their last.  They didn’t know.

He followed orders; he was Honor Man in his training company.  He’s a great, great guy, but a walking war casualty.

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We will get through this current catastrophe.

In Vietnam era, it was young Americans, mostly young men, who ended up as the cannon fodder in a hopeless case.  The surviving young men, now old, are in the cohort most at risk of the effects of COVID-19 today.

In today’s America, it’s people like myself, older, most especially those in Nursing homes or with certain pre-existing conditions, and those who serve them, who are being offered up in deference to something worthless to them: “the economy”.  Yesterday a doctor on the front lines committed suicide; soon people will be given an impossible choice: to work in unsafe environments with no legal recourse, or lose their livelihood.  Great choice, isn’t it?

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Yes, this is a ‘rough draft of history’, as are all news accounts we will read or hear or see today, and every day.   It reminds me of another quotation I saw when we entered Auschwitz as visitors in 2000, from Philosopher George Santayana: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“.

Priorities

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Forsythia Bushes, Woodbury MN Apr 26, 2020.

This is the day of the inauguration of the Great Emancipation from the chains of COVID-19.  There have been a dribble of preview events; today seems more the big deal here and there across the nation.

I think about another such event on May 4, 2003, when President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” over the Saddam Hussein on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.  The Iraq war had only recently officially begun with the bombing of Baghdad on the first day of spring in 2003, and the enemy had been vanquished, or so was the story.  If only….  We’re still mired in that conflict 17 years later, by no means only in Iraq.  It is hardly a time in our history to be celebrated, though a few still try to justify it.

Monday’s reopening for business will speak for itself.  Personally, I’ll drop off my car for a needed oil change, which it needs.  This has nothing to do with the reopening, except the appointment happens to be for Monday.  Usually I’d ‘camp’ in the McDonalds across the street, but that won’t be an option today.  I’ll do my morning walk as usual, weather permitting.  On Sundays walk I met three people, two with dogs, which is typical.  I’ll take my solitary drive of a few miles to as yet unknown destinations, close by.

I think we’re ill-advised to race into this re-opening.  Whether I’m right or wrong will come out as data is gathered in real time.  The first question will be how many businesses actually reopen, and how many customers or employees come in.  So far, the earlier and ominous predictions about this pandemic have been pretty accurate.  The facts are out there and have played out.  One can hope that the last two or three months were aberrations, but I don’t think so.  With Iraq, we were supposedly dealing with all sorts of supposed knowns which were pretexts for preemptive strikes – war.  With COVID-19, the unknowns prevail.

This week or next the death toll from COVID-19 will exceed American casualties in Vietnam War.

I try to be reasonable about this.  In my second post about the pandemic, “Fear Itself” , March 13, I put myself at 6 o 7 on a continuum with 0 as ‘hoax” and 10 as “hysteria”.  I am comfortable with this self-assessment.

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Today’s partial re-opening in some states (including my own) will come with predictions of one sort or another.  What I will be watching, long term, is how much attention is paid to  public health as opposed to ‘the economy’; “me” as opposed to “we” (focus on the individual, or on all of us on the planet Earth).  I’ll be watching how the money is actually disbursed and used, whether for all the people, or for the wealthiest and most powerful.  I’ll be watching especially how the people in power seek to recover those trillions later – on whose back the burden will fall: whether on the already super wealthy, or reduction in benefits like Social Security on common people need, expect and deserve for income security, health, education in their own future….

I’d ask you to take a look at the final two paragraphs below, and actually read the articles linked.

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A few weeks ago, David posted a comment in my “one month” blog: “From David in Wisconsin: Here’s a segment from an ongoing series in the New York Times. Lots of data shown here but it’s pretty easily understood and may demonstrate why Bernie (and perhaps even Trump) has so many rabid supporters. Take a break from the gloomy covid-19 news and dive into some gloomy economic news.”  The key data from this piece:  since 1980 the GDP for the U.S. increased by 79%; for the bottom half of the population, 20%; for the 40% in the middle, 50%; for the wealthy, 420%.  Can we talk?

About the same time, about April 2, I watched Secy of State Mike Pompeo bragging about U.S. generosity compared with China.  I came in on the news conference in the middle, so I only heard the Pompeo response.  I do have fairly current data on the wealth of nations of the United Nations, and looked up the data: U.S. has 4.4% of the World’s population and 22.788% of the World’s wealth; China: 18.8% and 12.363%.  The data is here: Wealth of UN Countries.  Compiler, Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg, was an acknowledged expert on the UN System.

 

Spring

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Thursday’s walk revealed my home area first outburst of Spring.  By Monday, no doubt, the race will be on, and the drabness of winter will be replaced with the colors of spring.  It is a time we look forward to each year.

 

I took this photo two mornings ago.  Today will be better throughout my woods, and soon there will be leaves.  It is a moment to relish.  Of course, there are the downsides of such a season – seasonal allergies.  And the daily news.   But bring them on.

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My inbox brought several invitations, which I want to share with you.  I highly recommend.

THE WORLD IS MY COUNTRY, the film about Garry Davis, World Citizen #1, is showing free on-line today through April 27 (full length) and through April 30 (one hour version).   

This is a perfect film for audiences of all ages.  Here are the links you can use: World Is My Country; Twitter; YouTube; Facebook.

Disclosure: I have been actively involved with this production since 2011.  It has a powerful message for anyone who wants to make a difference.  More information at the end of this post.

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BECOMING HUMAN: A LENTEN SERIES:  Along with about 50 others, I attended the first three of a planned six lecture series on this topic.  Each talk was powerful.  The last three had to be cancelled due to quarantine, but the speakers, all faculty at St. Thomas University, put all of the six lectures on video, and Basilica and St. Thomas have made them available to everyone, and I’m passing along with permission.  The syllabus is at the end of this post.  I have not included the links or followup activities.  Here are the links to the talks themselves.

Week One: Dr. David Williard: Civil War to Civil Rights

Week Two: Dr. Jessica Siegel: The War on Drugs

Week Three: Dr. Amy Levad: Mass Incarceration

Week Four: Dr. Amy Finnegan: Defeating the “White Savior” Complex

Week Five: Dr. Michael Klein: Mobilizing for Social Change

Week Six: Dr. Kimberley Vrudny: The Blackness of God

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WORLD WAR ZERO:  On Earth Day a group called World War Zero (The American Security Project) introduced itself to me.  I want to introduce it to you as well.  I decided to make a contribution – its mission seems consistent with my own.  Here’s the link.   In a followup e-mail just received today, co-founder John Kerry said: “Americans are hungry to talk about the climate crisis. In fact, more than 90 percent of Americans say they are open to a conversation about climate. ”  I have long believed that the solution is in the conversation.  How about it.

At climate demonstration at State Capitol, St. Paul MN, Sep 20, 2019

 

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More on World Is My Country from the Producer, Arthur Kanegis:

The good news in this time of pain is that the world is coming together in unprecedented ways to stop this virus.

When we emerge from this EMERGENCY will we go back to business as usual? Or will we EMERGE ‘N SEE that we are all on lifeboat Earth together?

What touches one touches us all.

Our CASCADING crises now transcend borders and so must our solutions.

Here is something amazing: China’s pollution before and after the virus crisis:

Study: Coronavirus Lockdown Likely Saved 77,000 Lives In China Just By Reducing Pollution — Forbes Magazine.

That’s over 20 times more people saved in China than were lost to the virus!

Around the world, the environment is showing signs of coming back into balance and the UN Secretary General has even called for a Global ceasefire to end wars during the crisis!  Sign the petition here.

Wouldn’t it be great if this emergency propels us to find solutions to not only pandemics, but also the far greater threats of climate change and nuclear war? To finally turn back the doomsday clock in which atomic scientists show that humanity is teetering closer than ever to our own extinction?

To inspire us to imagine new solutions, Future WAVE is gifting you a preview screening of the exciting new film “The World is My Country” – FREE until April 30, 2020!

It’s the movie that’s getting people out of their doldrums. It’s inspiring people with new hope. It’s the intriguing story of how a song and dance man on Broadway turned his war guilt over bombing civilians — in a war that had just killed over 70 million people — into an electrifying action that galvanized war weary Europe and sparked a movement.

It was a mighty movement that helped pave the way for the unanimous passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inspire the founders of the European Union — which ended a century of wars between its member states!

Now this film can help inspire the people of the world to do something even grander. Just click on the red “STREAM NOW” button above and find the key to how we can come together to build a safe, secure and workable world.

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BECOMING HUMAN: A LENTEN SERIES

Welcome to The Basilica of Saint Mary’s Lenten Series on “Becoming Human.” Though of course we wish we could have continued the series in person, COVID-19 made online delivery necessary. We hope that this “online portal” to the series provides you with some ofthe tools that will be necessary to engage in the work of transforming our communities.

The theory guiding this series is that the racial history we all inherit is dehumanizing for all of us, though it is dehumanizing for white folks in different ways than it is dehumanizing for people of color. The only way to “become human” is to confront the legacy of white supremacy and undergo a process of transformation, even conversion, to engage more humanely in the world, especially across the color line.

Key to this effort is learning the history of how white supremacy has been structured into the American legal system from its founding (week one), persisting beyond the era of Civil Rights especially through the “war on drugs” (week two), and leading to the contemporary reality of mass incarceration (week three). Learning the stages of development in racial identity can help to disrupt the “White Savior” complex, the tendency of white people to engage in efforts that are unhelpful at best, and patronizing at worst (week four). True social transformation can happen when there is a match between our unique gifts and the world’s need. As Frederick Buechner put it, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” (week five). Since theology is a carrier, too, of white supremacy, learning about the Blackness of God might also help in recognizing the moral imperative behind this religious calling to engage in the work of social transformation (week six).

This series will echo the Christian cycle of creation-fall-redemption, starting with the theological idea that humans were created in the imago Dei, but fell into a sinful condition where persons, relations, and structures fail to function in the ways that God desires. Humans were created reflecting something of the divine life, but sin–especially the social sin associated with the domination of one over another–has diminished life, not only for people of color, but also for perpetrators. The final two sessions in the series will point to the hope that God is redeeming us from the condition in which we find ourselves. The series holds onto the hope that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world, enlightening us, empowering us, and encouraging us to resist systems of oppression, and to cooperate in the task of reclaiming our common humanity.

COMMENTS:

from Judy: Dick, as usual, excellent communication.  Do keep well.  Peace,

from Glen: I am very interested in peace, justice and climate change.  In my opinion, most of this blog is propaganda that leads in the opposite direction; toward hate, injustice and poverty.  I’ve been listening to seething and intense hatred from “the left” for more than 3 years.  We seem to be living in two separate worlds.  Please discontinue sending this depressing propaganda.

from Jerry: Thanks for your blog, Dick.  As usual, you are right on.

from Kathy:  I just listened to the first lecture.  I plan to listen to all of them over the course of the week.  A relief from Covid info and nurtures my history teacher’s soul.  Thanks, Dick, for sharing.

from Jeff: Over the past couple years I have been listening off and on to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History.  I have watched Cuomo and it struck me recently his approach is interesting…. Gladwell explored in one episode the Jesuit philosophical technique of “casuistry” which came out of the founding of the Order by St Ignatius Loyola and following Jesuit thinkers.

Casuistry has somewhat cynical connotations in the modern world, but as explained by Gladwell and by a Jesuit philosophy professor from Boston it is not so sinister.  The
approach is to take a problem and examine by noting that conventional philosophy and even morality is not able to solve it because modernity and technical and societal change has made long term philosophy unable to solve the problem.  So instead of applying “general”  wisdom, you need to “descend into particulars”  in order to understand and solve a problem.
(One of the examples Gladwell uses is the inventor of the birth control pill, who in fact was a devout daily attending Catholic and a practicing MD who saw a large population of lower and middle class female patients in Massachusetts and was horrified by the toll in both poverty and neglect visited on families who had more children than they could support, but also the impact on womens health from conceiving so often—quite an interesting problem)
In any case, I am willing to bet Andrew Cuomo had some Jesuit education,  and he certainly is a son of his father who excelled in this type of thinking.

 

Earth Day

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Other Outside the Walls blogs can be accessed in Archives at right.  (This is the 9th blog in April 2020.)

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Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.  There is a great plenty to focus our thoughts this day, and all those to follow.

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A few years ago a good friend volunteered at the COP21 climate conference in Paris, France.  Some months later, I got a surprise gift: the booklet was one not to be wasted.  All the 50 or so pages were identical to the cover which is pictured below.

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Recently, I came across a photo I took at a Demonstration in Minneapolis in March, 2007.  The photo speaks for itself:

March 2007, Loring Park Minneapolis

The two illustrations, along with their stories and the devastating pandemic in which we are all immersed at this moment in our history basically speak for themselves, and there are no words that I can add that will amplify their message.

Here is an article about Earth Day, April 22, 2020.

Here is a report on COP21, Paris, 2015.

Perhaps the COVID-19 pandemic will move us off of whatever blocks us from our own individual positive action.

The earth and its inhabitants needs audience participation.  This is not just for reluctant or resistant leaders; this is for us.

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Speaking of “us”, there is the matter of power, which we seem to deny to ourselves, even in a democracy like ours, where the people still possess the power of the vote…if they decide to exercise that power in an informed way.

Humanity, and other species, seems to adopt the Pyramid model of leadership.  Somebody ends up on top of the pile; the rest of us sort out at different levels.  Ambitious ones seek out a higher level, and often overreach (think “The Peter Principle“).  Others choose to under-reach, to go with the flow, which is no more helpful.

I’m now 20 years retired.  My heroes are the unsung individuals who are “on the court” making whatever difference they can, where they live, every day.  We each have a role.

My hero, this Earth Day, is the youngster I saw at a climate demonstration at the state capitol in St. Paul on Sep. 20.  He’s pictured below.  I overheard him ask his Mom about making his own sign, and he had some scrap of paper from her purse on which he’d done his own scribbles.  I don’t know his name, or hers.  I don’t know what ended up on his ‘sign’.  He was an activist, and I hope in some small ways to be like him, day to day.

POSTNOTE:  Each of us, I reckon, have our own favored groups and causes.  In the area of environment, one of my favorites is Fresh Energy, which in my view is doing great good in encouraging positive change.

Just yesterday, a new group was announced by former Presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry.  It’s name WorldWarZero; and it has a most impressive group of co-founders, movers and shakers .  Check it out.  I enrolled, and, yes, it asks for a donation.  Check it out today.

We all can make a big difference.

COVID-19 Tip-toeing in….

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This mornings walk was, as usual, uneventful.  I met one couple with dog, and one single woman.  It was a little  chilly.  My walk is about two miles at a moderate pace.

Back home our neighbor said that golf, marinas and. bait shops were okay to open; indeed the top of the front page of the paper directed us to the Sports section “OK, GRAB A TEE TIME.  Governor says courses can open.”

Around noon, I took my usual drive, this time my destination was Afton, where there is a big marina.  The temp was in the early 60s, bright sunshine.  I met a squad of about 100 motorcycles, probably out on their inaugural tour.  The Marina is closed, a sign said, but there were signs of life.

Somebody pulled onto the road pulling a small fishing boat; I passed a couple of golf courses and there were a few out there too.  And there were a few walkers on the sidewalk.  The drive was a no drama deal.

Earlier I’d had a long phone conversation with a cousin who said she has respiratory problems, so she doesn’t push any envelope.  She stays inside, others do the shopping when needed, occasionally husband and she take a little drive as I do.

The paper had a front-page picture of the protestors at the Governors residence.  The paper said 800 were there.  I recalled: A peace march against the Iraq war with only 800 participants would not have qualified for even a small mention inside the paper a dozen years ago.

Another headline said that “another pork plant is latest hit by virus”.  This one in Worthington MN, about 60 miles down the road from Sioux Falls SD “and produces more than 4% of the nation’s pork supply”; very large, but apparently smaller than the Sioux Falls operation.

Yesterday, a friend of Cathy’s called to say she took a one-month leave from her position at a local super market.  She’s been terrified about being exposed to the virus.  She needs the job; she’s also medically vulnerable.

On and on go the stories.

The problem with COVID-19 is the contagion.  It’s not like “people drowning” or “automobile fatalities” or such.  It is contagion, and the difficulty of telling who is contagious, which can actually be anyone, including myself.  A couple of blogs back, on public health, a friend sent the story of “Typhoid Mary”, famous in the lore of spreading the disease, not knowing she had it.

But, it’s a nice day here, and in many and sundry ways people are trying to figure how to to reasonably deal with a problem that truly affects the entire globe, and will probably be an ongoing problem far after the traditional ‘flu season’ is supposed to be over.

My mask. Still getting used to it.

COVID-19 Protests

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Yesterday seems to have been the day for orchestrated protests: enough of the health crisis; time to reopen business.  The longer summary of pundits views is here, if you wish.

Here’s an illustration used in the on-line post by someone I know very well, a self-described libertarian:

I came late to protests.  For me, the trigger event was when we began to bomb Afghanistan after 9-11-01.  I thought the bombing made no sense, short or long term, but ‘the people’ didn’t agree with me – 94% of Americans were all okay with doing something to avenge 9-11:  Afghanistan Oct 7 2001001.  (this, and all pdf’s will open as a small illustration.  Simply click on the illustration to enlarge it.)

The small percentage on my side – the other 6% – were drowned out after 9-11.  We looked at the issue as one of a need to figure out a solution to problems – war and bombing was not worthwhile.  We remember.  Another photo in my files, from 2007, better illustrates where our protest groups then seemed to be at: this matter was far bigger than us as individuals, or a single country.  We know how that turned out.

Minneapolis Loring Park ,March 19, 2007

Protests are not unusual in any civil society.  In my experience, largely between 2001 and about 2010, protests were relevant for exhibiting and experiencing solidarity around an issue.  As the saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”.  For a short while they were useful in attracting media, which often was the basic point of the demo – hopefully a TV crew would show up.  So the effort was towards good visuals, and good speechifying.

Of course, as a nation, perhaps people generally, have a short attention span.  The crowds at the demos, initially in the thousands, dwindled.  At some point I stopped going to the demos – I shared the passion, but I didn’t think they were worth my time and our effort – that I could do more in other ways.  There would be endless contrary opinions to my own, which is just fine.

When I saw the visuals of the obviously orchestrated demonstrations yesterday, I thought back, initially, to the first demo I recall attending after 9-11-01.  It was at the Capitol steps during the week we began to bomb Afghanistan in October, 2001.

This was the first such gathering I had attended, so I knew no one.  My memory is that there may have been 100 or so of us on the capitol steps, and some speakers were giving their views.  I really don’t remember who they were, or what they said.  I don’t even recall how I learned of the event – I was not an activist.

What I do remember, from that evening, were the counter-protestors, on the sidewalk across the driveway.  There weren’t many of them, but they were brandishing American flags, which almost seemed like weapons against the opposition on the steps.  Other than some shouting to try to drown out the speakers, nothing else happened and I went home.

9-11-01 dragged on and on and on, and it remains with us to this day.  We are still in Afghanistan 19 years later.  In April 2002 I had an opinion published in the Star Tribune on the folly of war, and there was not a single word mentioned about Iraq: Afghanistan colum 4:2002001 

The Pandemic in which we are now engulfed dwarfs 9-11-01 in its short and long-term implications.

The protests?  Sure, they can go on.  I’m most intrigued by how small they are, compared with those I was involved in years ago.

The true test for all of this will come in coming months.

I’m with those who are cautioning against a quick attempt to return to normal.  We are an incredibly wealthy country, even with the setbacks, and we will get through this.

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A Commentary on Public Health was published on April 15.  You can read it here.  I asked my sister, a nurse for over 50 years, with lots of experience in public health, to comment.  This is meant to be a conversation starter.

Here is a chart of the Relative Wealth of Countries in the United Nations: Wealth of UN Countries.  This is data as of 2017.  Dr. Schwatzberg is deceased.  He and I were good friends.

Here’s a very interesting analysis of inequality within our own country, from the April 10 New York Times

COMMENTS:

from Gail: Thanks for your blog, Dick.  I agree that this is a time that brings into view underlying issues that haven’t been examined in recent years: individual liberties vs. the ‘common good’; states’ rights vs. federal authority – issues that apply to all ‘federations’, including the proposed world federation proposed by CGS.

from David: Thanks for sending this out.

from Larry:  I write a monthly column in the SUN POST where we live, and this month, in the link, bears a bit on what you’re saying (see below).

Oh, and, I think you know, I share your wondering about the overall efficacy of protests.  Elaine and I were at an event in 1990, shutting down the government center (the old one, close to the post office, where I went when drafted) because of the 1st Gulf War.  A young man, on “our side” was trying to burn an American flag.  An older woman, counter protester, was freaked out to the nth, and Elaine got between them, mainly trying to reason with the young person about the counter productive nature, for our cause, about what he was doing.  That day was my earliest memory of us talking consciously about “there must be a better way to make the point.  This worked when veterans threw their medals over the wall, or whatever, and the media covered it, but now they’ve been trained to look the other way”.  Of course, now, as one of my articulate drop-in members, said in a letter, because we’re all in isolation, “Please keep sending me those letters.  Be my lifeline”  (I send a letter to all the folks at drop-in every 10 days or so)  He said, “I turn on the TV and there’s this orange thing talking about a world I don’t recognize, and then the obedient media follows that around all day”.  Anyway, the must be a better way related to why I early on supported Mn Peace Project, had Roxanne at a VFP meeting when I was President and she was starting.  People complained about wasting their time with stuff like this when we had so much work to do.  Or saying where are the protests in this plan, etc.  I agree, whatever we do, with questioning authority, it has to be more strategic and thought out than much of what we’ve fallen into as a peace and justice movement.  So, there, I said I didn’t have time, and now I took the time.  Quick and as unedited as this paragraph is.  Larry

from the Sun Post:  Here’s the recent column by Larry on March 30

from Dennis:  Thanks for your blog, Dick.  I agree that this is a time that brings into view underlying issues that haven’t been examined in recent years: individual liberties vs. the ‘common good’; states’ rights vs. federal authority – issues that apply to all ‘federations’, including the proposed world federation proposed by CGS.  Gail

 

 

 

COVID-19 Public Health

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A short while ago I was on one of those e-conversations where folks were sharing notes on COVID-19.  E-conversations serve a vital role: they’re quicker and can reach more people than U.S. mail; and more amenable to actual conversation than text or twitter or similar.

In this particular conversation, one comment was tossed out, and another (myself) responded, as follows: “Meanwhile the hospitals are losing tons of money as they have cleared the decks for the epidemic that fails to happen here, many medical people of my acquaintance are suffering significant losses of income while twiddling their fingers [emphasis added], and local small businesses are decimated.  Welcome to life in the panicdemic [not a typo].”

A little later I replied (also emphasis added: “…re “the twiddling fingers” and lower incomes waiting for the crisis that hasn’t happened.  I hope it won’t happen.  And remember your local fire department, who is always ready for a crisis, but probably is rarely used for such.  In this one, we were caught with pants down, so to speak.”

It occurred to me that both comments, and many others no doubt, are relevant in this time of great uncertainty, and that neither of the two responders above have any direct connection to “public health” outside of what we know casually, experienced personally as a patient, or learn from others.  So I asked my sister, a retired Nurse Practitioner in New York State with lots of experience in public health in her long career in nursing, if she’d be willing to weigh in.  Her response follows.

Following her response is mine, which I wrote before I read her comments.

Mary:

There is rarely only one good way to handle a public health crisis but in my experience folks respond well to honesty and sincere efforts to mitigate.  At the beginning we (those of us who sort of understand that microbes can be invisible killers) knew CoVid 19 would be different and difficult – contact and droplet isolation is tough! Lack of preparation usually translates to ‘lack of preparation to make the indefinite period of change palatable’ and nobody does well when their ability to direct their routines or their income streams is diminished.
I find that the extreme and rigid rules directed by bureaucrats in the times of ‘preparation/implementation’ rob folks of common sense and flexibility….and there is a lot of truth to the comments that state ‘I would have been fired for this last week’.  Recently, I found myself mandated to wear a pair of plastic goggles over my glasses.   They were smaller than my glasses, made of a cloudy plastic and had a poor fit that kept slipping, therefore and effectively rendering me unable to see (directions on medication cards, veins in which to start IV’s ) and requiring me to frequently adjust thus bringing the contaminated gloved hand closer to my face.  Common sense has to dictate practice so perhaps future efforts should emphasize training in critical thinking and decision making – keeping in mind the capabilities of the weakest links in the chain.  We, in health care, often say we should write a book related to experiences with unreasonable expectations but we also understand that those who should read it probably wouldn’t.
I agree with screening – no one sick should be working – and I understand the plight of the stressed worker who   ‘has to’ juggle two or three jobs to ‘live the lifestyle that they desire to maintain’.  One could argue that lifestyle choices make you more vulnerable but that is always countered with genetic make up and paths not chosen that alter circumstances of life.
Who lives…who dies….who decides??
Public health is ultimately private health and taking care of self is taking care of society.  We all need to learn to accept the reality of the impact of unplanned events in order to move through them and ultimately to  look at normal not as we would like it to be but to accepting normal for what it turns out to be.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things that I can, And the wisdom to know the difference!”…..Source unknown to me but mantra familiar to many.
Bon Journee a tous!!
Stay safe!!💞

Dick: I made an unrelated editorial comment on the above in my post Easter Sunday.  You can read that here.

My initial response, above, about emergency service in our society would remain my primary response.  Very rarely are there disastrous fires – they become front page news in their areas.  Because there are few fires does not mean we should cut back on what is, really, emergency preparedness.  You don’t develop and staff a fire department after the fire begins.  You have it available when it is needed.  In small communities this can be a real stretch, of course.  But even in the small towns there is some kind of rural fire department staffed by volunteers, and this has always been true.

I’d encourage thinking about other analogous services:  9-1-1 for emergencies comes to mind immediately.  It is a shared service, first used in the U.S. in 1968.  I could expand my list of rarely used, but important and even essential services for everyone that we take for granted, that are a public responsibility through taxes.

COVID-19 hi-lites an attitude problem.  We still have a tendency to think that we are an island in an inter-connected world – where we can close down something that originated somewhere else.  Very simply, we have porous and un-closable borders.  Period.  We are learning this the hard way in the United States, right now.

If we learn anything from this pandemic, it is that we need to increase our attention to the probability of some new and even more difficult pandemic that will most certainly strike sometime in the future – something which could originate here as easily as anywhere else on the planet.  This is an opportunity.  But it requires plenty of funding and a change in mindset: it has to become like the local fire department, a necessity not a luxury.  “Public Health” means everyone, not only those who can afford it.

In the Easter Sunday post I recalled visiting a hospital in Haiti in the spring of 2006.  After I published that post I got to thinking back to another trip, to the Philippines, in 1994.  I was traveling with a cousin and her group.  The cousin grew up in the Philippines, and was returning for a school reunion,

For two or three days we visited one of her friends, in an obviously wealthy family in Cebu City.  One day the husband took me around to see local sites; one evening they took us up to a high point overlooking the city.  My memory is of lots of people living in the ditches along the road.  Here they’d be called homeless; there, the ditch was home.

My host, later, in Cebu City, was showing me Magellan’s Cross in Cebu City.  My memory is that it was in a central square in the city.  Across the square was a hospital and/or a Cathedral.  I remember vividly, still, what my host said, matter-of-factly, while we stood looking across the way:  “here“, he said, “if you are rich you can afford to get the best medical care available to anyone in [the United States].  If you are poor, you die.”  Those with resources could easily go to Japan or the United States or anywhere else for the best care available.

There was no response asked or offered.  It was just a matter of fact.

This is our problem in this country on this day, at least in general.  If you are lucky, you don’t have to worry; if you aren’t, it’s your problem.  The problem with something like COVID-19, is that this virus, or something else, doesn’t recognize a persons wealth or where he or she lives or what her position might be.  It just goes to work.

We can learn from this – or just wait for the next crisis.

I open the floor to any and all comments!

POSTNOTE:

Kathy forwarded this received via a mutual friend, Howie.  I’ve seen this before, and it remains very relevant today.

There’s Something About Mary (unsure of source):

Between 1900 and 1907 a number of families living in New York City would mysteriously contract typhoid and fall ill. Typhoid is a bacteria that causes severe diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and fever.  One by one New York families contracted the disease, seemingly at random with no explanation as to the cause. Finally, in 1907 one family  who had contracted typhoid hired a medical investigator to determine how they had become ill.  The investigator examined the household and discovered that the hired family cook, an Irish woman named Mary Mallon, had pretty disturbing habits, most atrocious of which was that she didn’t wash her hands after she pooped. Did I mention that typhoid is typically spread via contact with fecal matter? The investigator then examined her work history. All of her former clients happened to be the families that had contracted typhoid over the past 7 years.  She would cook for the family, they would get sick, and she would flee and sell her services to another family, who in turn would get sick.  It was no coincidence, as under medical examination it was discovered that Mary was an asymptomatic carrier, meaning she was infected with typhoid, but had no symptoms of the disease.

Mary was immediately quarantined at a clinic on North Brother Island. She denied she was a carrier and refused all medical treatment, including the removal of her gallbladder which was infested with the bacteria. Without her cooperation state medical authorities didn’t know what else to do except hold her in quarantine.  Finally in 1910 the NY State Health Commissioner ordered her release when she signed an affidavit to abide by certain sanitary conditions like washing her hands and to never work as a cook. After her release, the typhoid epidemics began again.

Over the next five years Mary Mallon worked as a cook for larger institutions such as schools, factories, orphanages, and hospitals.  As a result major typhoid outbreaks would occur all over the city. In 1915 a typhoid outbreak occurred at the Sloane Hospital for Women resulting in 25 sick and 2 dead.  When medical officials arrived to investigate, they found Mary Mallon cooking in the kitchen, having taken the alias “Mary Brown”. She still didn’t wash her hands after she pooped.

Mary Mallon was placed under arrest and once again placed in medical quarantine.  Once again she denied that she had typoid and refused all medical treatment.  This time, the authorities held her indefinitely, and as the years and decades went by Mary still refused to be treated or admitted that she had typhoid. Her story became a news sensation, with the media branding her with the nickname “Typhoid Mary”.  Mary Mallon would spend the rest of her life in medical quarantine until her death in 1938. During her culinary career she had sickened hundreds of people, resulting in 3 confirmed deaths with the possibility of many more unconfirmed deaths.

COMMENTS:

from Dick:  I’ve now read Mary’s thoughts.  Speaking personally, and as an individual, this has been a huge eye-opener for me in routine sorts of ways, such as ‘hand-washing’, and routine contacts with people.  I’m in a group where hand-shakes were common.  That will be a huge adjustment.  Etc. Etc.  We can’t solve all problems – every crisis will be different.  But we certainly can do better.

from Mary (her commentary above): Hi Dick….interesting!  Thyphoid Mary is a classic amongst professionals and I do not doubt its veracity.  Put in historical context…she is recent!  Major advances were made much earlier (1860’s) in infection control and awareness with the childbirth (puerperal) fevers contracted because health care workers did not wash their hands in obstetrical/gynecological work- see Ignaz Semmelwies.  Infection control and management is still pathetic in some of the cultures I have worked (Tunisia, 1968-a nursing job was to set the mouse traps in the wards each evening), (Malekula, 2014-a nursing job was to collect the wood, build the fire, and ‘sterilize’ instruments using an old pressure cooker).  Recently (October 2019) CMS mandated that there be at least one CDC trained infection preventionist in all accredited long term care facilities – primarily to increase awareness of contagion.  I have that certification and would restate the importance that the CDC (and WHO) puts on the infectious cycle….one thing this situation is doing is increasing awareness of transmission – this time it is airborne, next time, who knows.  Microbes are here to stay….and so is resistance.

from Joyce: Excellent; thank you for sharing this

from Flo: Thanks for sharing! Perhaps the most unforgiving aspect of covid-19 is that anyone can be a carrier, like Typhoid Mary, and not know it. I’ll keep wearing a mask in public, honor social distancing, and hope that I’m not a carrier nor become a victim. However, it won’t stop me from taking long walks with Carter, daily. I’ve also begun making masks, by request, and just received a very special thank-you from Mickey and her family and colleagues at her nursing home that appreciated my efforts! Same thing happened with Eric and Holly and her folks. It’s the very least I can do.

I am concerned about the millions of people around the world whose economic lives changed literally over night when the paycheck they relied on from day to day disappeared with the appearance of this new pandemic.. Our economic system is the harbinger of that fate, but too many people don’t or simply can’t have contingency plans in place when it fails. It doesn’t have to be that way, but …
Stay safe and stay in touch!

 

COVID-19 Ben Vosberg and Medicine

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My month in the land of COVID-19, here.

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For many years I’ve done family history, and just a few days ago came across an old newspaper clipping.  A photo of it is below.  The pdf is here: Ben Vosberg (click to enlarge).

Ben Vosberg was a relative, probably my great grandmothers brother.  As is typical, the news clipping was not labeled, and a small part of the article was missing.  Ben was born in 1839 in Germany, arrived in the U.S. in 1844, married in 1865, and at the time of his visit to Galena lived in nearby Wisconsin in the area of Hazel. Green and Sinsinawa. The newspaper was probably from sometime around 1932.

Truly, Ben Vosberg lived in the old days when being born was hazardous.  He had beat the odds to be able to visit about the past at age 93.  In his day, if you got sick or were injured, you either got well or you didn’t.  Graveyards are full of young mothers who died in childbirth or soon after; and their children, often less than 5 years of age, are named on lots of headstones. Men were not immune, disease, illness, now-preventable accidents.

Years ago I was reading a family history from my Dad’s French-Canadian side, where the writer was recalling another set of pioneers in then Dakota Territory, which later became North Dakota.  She said: “There were times when help would be needed by a neighbor and a white dish towel would be hung on the corner of the house and either a neighbor came quickly, or maybe a passerby, but [those were] few and far between at the time.”

There was no 9-11, no phone, likely no doctor or hospital.  The white dish towel signaled trouble inside.

*

It is hard to imagine this now, when we’re barraged with information about this or that.

We are blessed with all of the marvels of modern medicine – something still inaccessible to a great percentage of people around the world.  We expect miracles.

I’m recalling a powerful visit to Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health hospital in Haiti in 2006.  Poor people, young and older, had made long trips to reach this medical facility, and their only opportunity for any treatment was to wait in line for possibly only a single appointment.  (I wrote a bit about the visit in 2006.  See p. 4 here.)

Some years later came the cholera epidemic in Haiti, a great medical crisis from an introduced disease; in 2010 a horrible earthquake.  And a deadly hurricane or two.

We will all get through this national and world crisis, but there are a lot of learnings we need to have, including diligence, and patience and humility and resolve and, yes, gratitude.   Our frontline troops in this war are innumerable citizens in all sorts of occupations, most especially those related to critical care medicine.

*

Where was/is God in all of this?  Who is God?  I’ll leave the theological arguments to you and everyone else.  Succinctly, no one has any idea, and various theologies simply reflect human imperfection…and arrogance.

I’d be in church as usual today, but Basilica of St. Mary is closed, and our Mass on Facebook is as close as we’ll come today.  If you’re interested, here is the link.

We can all be thankful that we’re well enough to read this, and able to impact on future decisions.

We’re all in this together, big time.

Have a good April and rest of your life.

POSTNOTE:  I don’t have any death date for Ben Vosberg.  Please let me know, if you know.

COMMENTS (more at the end of the post):

from Molly: …this is much appreciated… Each of these stories is unique, and such a strong common thread relates them to each other… My Irish great-greats (Dad’s side) settled in central WI and farmed .  My Mom’s German grandfather immigrated to avoid being drafted for another term in the Kaiser’s army, and settled in NJ, where he–an engineer–worked on building the Brooklyn Bridge, then married his Irish landlord’s daughter and moved to Milwaukee…

Ya, guts, strength, resilience –and oh so many lost stories.
Blessings of the day, to you, and thanks for the candles you light for us with your blogs, stories, reflections.
from Fred: As usual very well done! You wrapped the yellowed newspaper clipping into the overall theme in an interesting way. Much food for thought.
from Sandy: Thanks for sharing! It was as always very interesting and informative.
from Brad: I thought you’d enjoy reading this article about San Francisco’s 1918-19 pandemic, SF’s 1918 Spanish flu debacle: A crucial lesson for the coronavirus era.  History’s lessons can teach us how to be proactive, and act in a time of a health crisis to survive. Indeed, avoid xenophobia, snake-oil cures, and listen to health professionals over the shrill of elected officials promoting self-interests.

 

 

COVID-19 One month

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POSTNOTE April 8:   Today is Passover, Sunday is Easter, April 19 is Orthodox Easter.  Spring began March 19.  Whatever your tradition to recognize this season, this year is certainly without precedent in our era.  I saw a sign on my walking route this morning which speaks eloquently to all who see it.  The true test is how we as a society change as a result of this major test.

Related:  Fred sent this most interesting and informative link.  Take a look.

At entrance to Carver Park walking trail, Woodbury MN April 8, 2020.

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April 6: A month ago today I stopped by my daughters home, and she urged me to lay low for awhile because of COVID-19.  The concern seemed overblown, and my lifestyle is careful anyway, so I mostly continued life as usual for about a week.

Yesterday, the same daughter called, and says she’ll be making masks for us.  I fantasize what mine will look like….  Bank lobbies are not open, so they don’t have to worry about a masked man on premises!

We all have our own stories.  (Mine are basically in all of the March and April blogs, through the present.  See Archives).

Early on I had myself as 6 or 7 on a continuum (0 = hoax; 10 = hysteria).  I think I’m still there, but much more aware than I was.  We seem to. be faring okay so far, but this week, everywhere, apparently will be rough.  Getting sick with the virus is a lottery none of us want to ‘win’.  It is not to be trifled with.

*

Observations from a single citizen (me):

Service:  First and foremost, thank you to those in the medical and other related professions in the front lines day to day dealing with the virus.  They are heroes, pure and simple.  Most true heroes never intended to be such, but when their time came they were ready.

Personally, I am most aware of the people who have been and will be the face of American business in my daily life.  Mostly these are younger people in low wage jobs – at the coffee shop, restaurants, grocery store, gas station….  These are largely people without financial reserves; the people who are at risk of exposure simply being at work; the people for whom financial recovery will be difficult and iffy.  I think constantly about how I/We can help these folks now and later.  They play a large role in the quality of life for this senior citizen, as they do for citizens in general.

Like most everyone, I know people personally who, while they, like me, have escaped the virus itself, have been damaged in various ways by its effects, directly and indirectly.  I could make a list, which lengthens…but this is NOT the time “to reopen”, or to “go back to work”….  As a nation, we need to figure the implications of this pandemic on a great many levels.

Community:  I think we all value community; the dilemma is where we individually set the borders of our ‘community’, from the most basic (“My home) to the broadest (“Our planet”) and all shades in between.  My general sense, just from brief forays out, is that we are more attentive to the idea of a greater community than we were before.  If I’m correct, what is critical is that we not stop where we are, rather continue to work for more improvement in the future, a future which will not be the same as our past, pre-COVID-19.

“Government” as essential:  ‘Government’ as a thing is very easy to kick around.  But we are daily learning how important a strong caring central government is; the very reason we became a United States, rather than a federation of independent states.  There is no way that I as an individual, or we as Minnesotans, can prepare for and anticipate everything.  We are in trouble now largely because key people diminished the value of a strong federal government “of, by and for the people”;  then diminished, for far too long, the notion that COVID-19 would be dangerous, even though all evidence available through intelligence was available several months before the alarm was sounded.  As we are finding, this was too late.

(Personally, my first awareness of a coming crisis was when I learned that some early flu victims were to be quarantined at Miramar, CA, where my grandson happens to be a Marine.  This would have been in very early February, and involved a group who had come in from Wuhan, China.  Lifecare in Kirkland WA came later.)

Planning and preparing for the long term is essential”: It should not have to be a political fight to invest in our future in all the ways that entails.  Rather than continuing campaigns to cut taxes, and hope that crises will not happen, we need more to think always in terms of the worst case, and plan accordingly.  This is neither cheap, nor a waste of money.  We were not prepared for this crisis in any sense of the word.  Bad things would have happened, regardless, but what we have experienced already and will continue to experience in large part is because of what our government, especially at the federal level, did not do to prepare for this.  (There will be plenty of time to do a fact-based debrief.  We will not look good.)

A month ago I could not have imagined this day.  I hope next month and those following will be a bit better, and that we all will have learned a very hard lesson.

Postword April 7 – An Opportunity: This, in my religious tradition, is Holy Week, culminating with Easter Sunday, April 12.  This, along with Christmas, is the day when everybody goes to Church – a busy day for ushers like myself.  This year the Basilica will be empty, as it was on Sunday – Palm Sunday – as it will be all week.  There will be a service, on line, each day of this week, Holy Week.  You can watch here, wherever you are in the world, if you’re on Facebook, whatever your tradition, whether a ‘believer’ or not.  They do an impressive job.

A suggestion: out of adversity often comes opportunity, and out of this adversity comes an opportunity to seriously reflect on what this all means to you, to all of us.  Sometimes adversity – a quick kick in the rear end, as my ancestors might say, and do, leads to insights one doesn’t normally have, and the interruption of our normal hubbub gives us the time to pay attention to things we may have overlooked in the franticness of contemporary daily life.

Give this week a chance for this activity.  You won’t regret it.

Postcard from the Busch farm in North Dakota app. 110 years old.  Here’s my article about the postcards at the farm, written 2006.

COMMENTS (More at end of page, from MN unless otherwise indicated.)

from JP in Manitoba: The following [including informative link to Winnipeg Free Press] will give you an idea on how we are faring in Manitoba.

FYI: The province of Quebec , Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia are certainly in worst shape than we are [in Manitoba].
[We] are abiding by the rules and have stayed isolated in our condo (so far so good) but must admit it is challenging.

From David in Wisconsin: Here’s a segment from an ongoing series in the New York Times. Lots of data shown here but it’s pretty easily understood and may demonstrate why Bernie (and perhaps even Trump) has so many rabid supporters. Take a break from the gloomy covid-19 news and dive into some gloomy economic news.

I don’t think that this article is behind a paywall. It’s designed to scroll in a kind of strange way. It didn’t display well on my phone but was fine on the computer.

From Steve: I loved the card and appreciated your blog this morning. Maybe the absence of ritual of Easter, there will be time for personal reflection and contemplation. The expressions of courage and unexpected neighborliness–even across continents and oceans–have been encouraging. I hope this “Eastertide” might become something of a habit, something important in our lives to tide us over to more familiar times.
Your article on post cards is Great! I loved looking at post cards on the rack at the drug store when I was a child. “Far way places with strange sounding names.” Then I began collecting them until one move after another and they were lost. A few years ago I came across some files and notebooks tha my mom and dad had saved. Post cares from my dad in the navy then while he travelled in the 40s and 50s for business all over the country and to Canada. Many addressed to me.
from Carol:  I love those old postcards.  I have some Easter cards from my mom also.  I still have your “blue cannon” one propped up beside her collection.  (A postcard of Fingal, ND 1906)
from ‘Grammee Babs”:  [My] husband (who was born in the family farmhouse) has collected post cards for a very long time. If you every have one that’s looking for a home, please consider popping it in the mail to him. It would knock his socks off. No small thing for a Norwegian! Especially in this way-beyond-uffda era.
from Barry:  Thanks Dick.  Your words are always so thoughful.
from Arlene in North Dakota: Happy Easter to you folks also, Yes it will be different. It is better to
stay in & not get sick. Take care.
from Sandy: Happy Easter to  you and Cathy too Dick!  Stay home and stay safe.
from Darleen:  Thanks for the view of the “Old Postcard”  It is a classic.   Years ago there was much personality in the cards.  Yes, Easter will certainly be different this year with the isolation mandate.  Of course we as Americans may have taken much for granted / became a bit careless / and really needed a wake up call to tone back.
from Anna in Louisiana:  Thanks for the vintage Easter card, may you have a blessed and peaceful Easter.  Take care, stay safe, be blessed. Read about the postcards, what a jewel of a collection.  Anything for from the early 1900 is beautiful. We are still staying in, went to drug store and grocery store this a.m. but wore mask and gloves. Stayed away from other people y’all stay safe and have a blessed Easter.  Stay safe my dear friend
from Lynn: Thanks for the bunnies.. and msg…one thing..that’s a big omelet …nice..
from Brad in California: Hope you and family have a poetic and meaningful Easter. Nice to see your Blog too.

from Cindy:  I am glad you are safe and healthy.  I can’t help but think of dad in these times. I know for a fact, that COVID 19 would be his proof & verification, to the world, that we are all World Citizens without borders. COVID has no “nationality”.Love to you and yours, Cindy

PS all of my employees are working remote, as am I. I struggle most without the daily human contact and live interaction.

from Frank: Hello from Salt Lake City.  Very nice weather here today so hit a few golf balls, a few tennis balls, rode a few miles on my bike and spent the afternoon putting together the framework for a garden shed/ isolation ward/ homeless shelter.  Couple of pics enclosed – one of the mock up that I have slept in all week and the other of the new one.  I’ll be dismantling the mockup tomorrow.  Salt Lake continues to be shutdown and the governor has now mandated that people driving into the state certify they haven’t been exposed to Covid 19 or are displaying any symptons.  So far we have 13 deaths attributed to Covid 19.  The governor’s office refuses to release the ages, pre existing conditions and co morbidities of the casualties so one can draw no useful conclusions from the data.  Meanwhile the hospitals are losing tons of money as they have cleared the decks for the epidemic that fails to happen here, many medical people of my acquaintance are suffering significant losses of income while twiddling their fingers, and local small businesses are decimated.  Welcome to life in the panicdemic.

Meanwhile, I’ll be happy to send you a face mask if you send me some 1/4 ” elastic.  Personally, I’m wearing a mask, safety glasses and disposable gloves whenever shopping. Lots of hand washing. Governor has requested that we order takeout three times a week to support local cafes.  So I’m waiting for our takeout pizza to be ready.
Stay healthy, support your local businesses and wash your hands.

from Sandy in New Mexico:  What a lovely note and picture.   I read your latest blog.

I am sure many people will have an uneventful Easter.  I am hoping to get things done around the house.  I also hope to do some reading.  I am reading The Splendid and the Vile, the book on Churchill by Erik Larson, my favorite author.
from Mary in New York:  Handy people – all –  I am having a small deck put on the back of the house and thinking of a very basic bench type seating bordering the sides of the deck.  What sort of barrier should I be having the guys put from the deck to the ground so the area does not become a haven for my yard critters?  I think my builders are a bit on the novice side but they are enthusiastic and out of work and they seem to understand the importance of solid footers and pretreated wood so it may work out OK…The esthetics of the finished project may be in my domain.
Have a good Easter everyone…the Good Friday snow storm turned out to be a three inch teaser as it has now all melted.  Hope your pandemics all remain non-events….not the situation in NY!

 

COVID-19 Chuck Woolery: Thoughts for World Health Day

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Ed. Note: April 7 is World Health Day.  A wealth of general information is here.  Scroll down to the box relating to World Health Day; there are regional pages as well.   Take time to look around.

Chuck Woolery, from Maryland, and long an activist, sent observations on the Covid-19 pandemic, and I asked permission to pass them along.  Permission was granted, and the 7-page commentary, titled “Preventing Pandemics for a healthy future: While winning this war” is in pdf form: Chuck Woolery- April 7 World Health Day R3 – Click the text to enlarge.  Chuck’s personal bio is at the end of the article.  Thank you, Chuck.  Dick Bernard

COMMENT

from Barbara: You may appreciate Malcolm Gladwell’s take on how viruses [viri?] permeate, thus our susceptibility.  He applies the (mis-named) Spanish flu current research to our now.  Click here.

I do like the peace-making thought that if we get it right in the neighborhood, in this case the home, we will have world peace.
I also notice that it is grassroots that generates shift or new reality. Perhaps leaders recognize trends – or are better with their megaphones.
Rushing to ersatz tech meetings merely filters our body-knowing intelligence and squanders our ruminating time.
Donella Meadows (Limits to Growth author) editorialized years ago how good it would be for Earth if we just  s l o w e d  down.
Charles Eisenstein (space of not-knowing) and Stephen Jenkinson (our death-phobic culture) are quite good on the space we currently inhabit.
We are the only animal that does not get its own food.  We have organized the world – with slavery and wars – to put bites in our mouths. We are taught to believe that there is one right answer. We are distracted with job fear.
Our susceptibility means we are (and have been) in the Era of Pandemic. It behooves us to make the most of this time-out re-think re-set. Our ethical priorities need emphasis. There is enough for all.
Stirring the pot,
I meant to add Einstein’s admonition to go beyond to a larger view than that space in which the problem arose. Eisenstein and Jenkinson are so good at that.