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What? You Want to Live Forever?
If you die within the next six months, it will not be from the Coronavirus. Caveats for septuagenarians with pre-existing respiratory problems and/or compromised immune systems.
I cannot top @cliffordbrown or @rodin at racking and stacking the statistics and infection data about this virus. Instead, I find the all-American freak-out worth remarking on. One can hardly blame the Great American Public for its trepidation. The reporting by our junk-bond, partisan, hysterical press is one more piece of evidence for the contention that we have a garbage media. I understand that “if it bleeds, it leads,” but the hair-on-fire, doomsday plague reportage impedes our citizens’ ability to perform a decent assessment of the situation.
All that, though, is not the source of my frustration. We’re Americans; a full-fledged freak-out over a rooty-poot virus is unseemly. As quantified on other Ricochet posts, the swine flu, the bird flu, and the M1A generic, seasonal flu reap lives in numbers that are orders of magnitude greater than the Coronavirus.
There is a profound lack of perspective evident in the freak-out. Every morning when you wake, and you haven’t died in your sleep is a gift. Every morning, as you prepare for your day, you should be cognizant of the myriad ways you could face an untimely requirement to shuffle off this mortal coil. Some of the risks can be mitigated. Many can come out of the blue, and whatever risk mitigation measures you’ve employed, you’re going to wind up deader than fried chicken.
Most people, I think, are intellectually aware of the fact that they will die. Too, most are aware that their ticket might be punched far earlier than they would wish. That is a myopic view of life. One needs to accept mortality on a visceral level.
Not accepting, and contemplating, the uncertainty of life prevents a full appreciation and celebration of the gift of life we’ve been given.
Every dawn we meet hale, whole, and hearty is a cause for profound gratitude, and every sunset should evoke the same. I don’t like the term carpe diem, because it hints at an excuse for wanton hedonism (now, carpe per diem is a whole different proposition). But, one should treat each day as a gift, love family and friends as much and as hard as we can, and be ready to meet our Maker.
There is some wisdom to be gained from the philosophy of the samurai of yore. That wisdom is limited, in that upon the initiation of the Tokugawa shogunate and the melding of Zen Buddhism and Shinto, the samurai became members of a pseudo death cult. Still, I found this quote to be relevant.
Every morning a warrior should recommit himself to death. In morning meditation, see yourself killed in various ways, such as being shredded by arrows, bullets, swords, and spears, being swept away by a tidal wave, burned by fire, struck by lightening, dying in a earthquake, falling from a great height, or succumbing to overwhelming sickness. An elder warrior said, “Once out of your front door you are surrounded by death. Once you leave your gate you are surrounded by enemies.” This saying is not merely a parable, but a way to prepare for your fate.
Don’t forget to put life into living.
Published in General
I know a lot about math, engineering, many areas of science, the military, music, literature, history, and many other topics. I usually know enough about these subjects that I can often know my own limitations and where I can discuss something with confidence. People may disagree.
There are a few subjects that I admit that I do not understand and probably won’t ever understand. Quantum physics and relativity are such subjects. I’ve tried to grasp the dead/alive cat and relative time and such, but I confess that it just doesn’t make sense to me. My suspicion is that we will someday find a way to explain quantum physics and relativity such that it is more logical, but for now it’s all mysterious to me, though the theories appear to work somehow.
A lot of medicine is nearly the same. I used to think I had a basic grasp of medical science, but the older I get the more I realize that I don’t know much about it at all. And the topic of this virus is one example. My natural impulse is to believe that the threat is overblown, but the experiences of other countries coping with this disease convince me to just shut up about my skepticism. Of course some reactions are foolish, such as hoarding toilet paper (my wife has our closet stuffed with rolls, because everyone else is buying and I guess we can’t be the ones left out), but it really does seem sensible to take the precautions being recommended now before it gets bad. I think the economy will suffer greatly, but if the virus is as bad as they say then not acting would make the economy much worse.
What I don’t understand is how does the virus ever go away?
I pick up all the junk that goes around. I also have an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder and chronic illness. So, I’m being cautious, but not overzealous. As a Latter Day Saint (Mormon), we have food, water, clothes, and other necessities stored for times like these.
I must have missed something. What about the ~80,000 deaths from the flu in 2018? Just in the US. Are you only 2 years old, or less?
With a fried egg on top and Spam?
The way I hear it, the reasoning was that the test kits developed and produced in other countries (so far) are very unreliable and produce a lot of erroneous results. I’m not sure which is worse in this situation – false positives (sending people into a panic) or false negatives (assuring infected people that they can go about their business, spreading the virus). I would just as soon see the CDC spend a few extra weeks and get it right. Remember, the majority of deaths in the US occurred in a single nursing home in Washington state, and the vast majority of deaths have been among people over 80 with preexisting conditions. This is not the zombie apocalypse. Stay calm.
On the other hand, this being Friday the 13th, I’m going to stay home today.
Darn it.
I don’t quite see the issue over test kits. How would knowing exactly what the patient has change treatment? You treat what is presented to you. There is no magic pill for this virus, nor any virus.
The CDC sounds like it has been sailing through the bureaucratic backwaters for quite some time.
I’m not LDS, but back after 9/11 I started keeping some things on hand. Storing extra food and supplies sure helped when we had some financial difficulties, not just in a panic situation like now. LDS authors and companies who cater to LDS have lots of good ideas and products for organizing storage.
Definitely coronavirus. After Tuesday next week the benefit I get from coronavirus is I no longer have to commute to work. And I will have a lot more time to write my books. I was getting behind on that.
I think that the test kit problem is a big deal, not because of treatment, but because of quarantine. You want to be able to quarantine carriers, and if you can’t test, you’ll probably have to quarantine a huge number of people who do not have the WuFlu.
Is that an actual quote?
No that’s the gist of what happened.
Awesome!
You need ammo for the guns too.
And while you’re out getting ammo, maybe grab just a little more whiskey.
I figured that was implied. I mean, you don’t say “I’m ready to go. I’ve got boots and bootlaces.”
Actually, I’m having an ice-cold Corona as I type this. So far, homeopathic medicine works!
Yes, but with Corona Zombies, you need lots and lots of ammo. “Hey, I’m ready for Armageddon — see, Jim Beam!” And I see a pint, well he’s not entering my encampment. Maybe if it’s a pint of Buffalo Trace we’ll let him in but he has to clean the port-o-potties.
Well, it’s good to know that that yellowish drink is good for something.
Now THAT would be a sight – The Boss wielding mace and flail through the Z.A.
Don’t forget: blades don’t need reloading.
I’m in favor of Corona and choose it 9 times out of 10. It tastes much the way beer is supposed to taste. (This is fact, not opinion.)
I called up a friend yesterday and told him I had a case of Corona. He hung up on me when I asked if he wanted to come over because I wanted share it with someone.
Calories? Lactic acid dispersal? Oxygenation?
Some of us will do better with those “reloading” tasks than others. /:
I’d probably hang up, too, under both meanings. Bleh.
We’ll have to disagree about that claim. I’m not sure what “supposed to taste” like means. Beer has been made in a bewildering number of styles since a few thousand years BC.
That is an awesome gif!
Actually, I prefer Dos Equis dark. It tastes better when you pour it to make a head, as the flavor gets intensified by the bubbles.
By the way, I’m the second most interesting man in the world . . .
Psssst: Tell him those blades will need resharpening . . .