All Things Virus

All Things Virus

It is the topic of conversation everywhere with everybody. It is all there is on TV except for reruns of All in the Family and Murder She Wrote. Especially news programs. There is no other topic for discussion on the news except for the occasional mention of the devastating news of the stock market performance, and I include the stratospheric upward performance as well as the stomach-turning declines. I long ago learned to distrust upward thrusts and believe they are the lures that bring the ignorant money on the sidelines back into the game, and then comes another sweep of the table as the market crumbles the following session. The sucker and his money easily parted. I am a sucker. We all are suckers.

The politics of the nation is in flux. Unable to decide on a course of action our leaders delayed until it was too late to be truly effective with our existing medical resources. Actually there was no real window of opportunity for action of a decisive nature. The best we could have done-The Best!-would have been to have delayed the inevitable mountain of death and fear. Quarantine and education early on might have been a great help in delaying the rolling disease, but at least it might have bought us time to ramp up our medical capabilities and our supply chain of food and resources. But our leaders were busy trying to figure out the politics of the disease. They put little faith in the scientists and doctors who understood the threat. Just as politicians have always disregarded the experts with respect to infrastructure, the climate, the environment, and all the issues that our civilization battles with. Instead they watched polls and held their wetted fingers up into the wind of public opinion and charged blindly into the unknown. Oh! but they did covertly dump their stock portfolios before the public knew what they knew from their private briefings with the scientists and doctors. They were taking no chances with their own fortune and on that count took decisive action based on science and medicine.

Our supreme leader is the worst of the lot. He speaks in meaningless circles. He has no understanding of the real issues of the emergency. His goal is to be seen and that is all. His goal is to be re-elected that is all. He surrounds himself with bobble heads and an occasional expert whose advice he will ultimately reject in favor of his own hyperbole. In fact hyperbole is too generous, he lies. He lies about the past, the present and the future. He calls it the “Chinese virus” which is a lie about the past. It is no more “Chinese” than it is the virus from Mars. He placates his core, the bigots and xenophobes who will believe any slight frothing from the mouth of the supreme leader. He says the situation is being managed “beautifully” while the leaders of science and medicine stifle their criticism and vomit into their sleeves. They know the present situation is like rolling thunder and no more under our control than the orbit of Mars. He says by Easter the churches will be full of beautiful Christians celebrating that beautiful holiday. He lies about the future. It is just as likely that on Easter Sunday the priests will be putting a mask or a respirator on Jesus on the cross and the Messiah will look down on empty pews and unconsumed wine and wafers.

Congress is working on a bill to revive the economy. That is like artificial respiration for a corpse. The only possible reason for this bill is to placate the supreme leader because even though he had no part in the booming economy of the past three years (he inherited that from his predecessor) it is his claim to fame going into the next election. Another lie. But a lie the other politicians will go along with because not to will seem like they have abandoned the American economy. The economy is one thing most Americans can touch and taste. The virus is an invisible horror. There are facets of this bill that would help Americans to cope with the horrors but mostly it will help Amazon and Wallyworld. We need treatment, respirators, testing, help with the loneliness of staying at home and coping with paying rent and buying food and burying our dead. It is good to fund the doctors and nurses and hospitals coping with the actual battle. It is good to help citizens to live through this thing. Not a penny should go to corporations, airlines and manufacturers. Exceptions should be manufactures who are involved in retooling for the production of necessary medical provisions. And as for finding the funds for the effort, let’s start by inspecting the trading history of each and every public official who was privy to non-public information and sold stock (or bought stock) based on that information. They should pay those monies into the public coffers along with healthy penalties for their mismanagement of the public trust. Their actions are akin to profiteering and treason.

Having filed my journal entry for the day I will pick up a book, my guitar, walk my dog, in short, the same things I did yesterday. Make no mistake I feel ultimately lucky to be doing just that. It beats lying in a hospital bed breathing through a tube. It beats hunger and the possible deprivation that is possible if this virus beats down our civilization. It is a once in a lifetime event the likes of which we’ve been spared in the past few generations. It is a time that will shape lives for better or worse. So if you can still move your arms and your legs “then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone…for the Times They Are A Changin’!”