A Virus By Any Other Name

There has never been a world event quite like this one. No matter how it's labeled, the Chinese Virus as is now declared the official name, would be the same rosy scenario by any other name and undoubtedly be just as dangerous.

By dangerous, I, like all of us now bombarded by the 24/7/365 news cycle that is endlessly shared; dissected; pronounced; pontificated, and has not slowed its roll since we discovered that the Xi regime in China had attempted at first to deceive the world: Wake up every day sure that life as we knew it may never be the same again.

There are enough viral videos of the meat market at Wuhan that adding the sinister demon of a bio lab that seems like piling on. It's disgusting to anyone raised with FDA guidelines. Maybe that's one of the broader lessons?

The one truth so far is that no one knows anything that's true. What was true in February is no longer even a remote recommendation in mid- March. And still, the beaches of Spring Break are no less full of youthful revelry.

The once vibrant, rebounding Trump economic miracle has been stopped dead in its tracks by a pandemic. There are those who are positively sure that the effort is another in a series of 4 yrs of attempts to prosecute a coup against an American President. Now we await yet another decline that has wiped out 3 1/2 years of increasing wealth in less than 3 weeks.

Italy has been experiencing increasing numbers of infections along with increasing deaths due to the Chinese virus daily. The once vibrant Lombardy from Milan to Bergamo is devastated. For years the leather and textile trades there sold their factories to China. In return, China sent over 100,000 workers that there are direct flights from Milan to Wuhan. The unanticipated consequences are now mindboggling.

Last evening Gov. Newsome, CA announced a statewide lockdown ex- essential services as the rate of infection broke out overnight. NV, OR and WA have or will follow suit. California shut down gun stores as 'non-essential' businesses just as the lines at gun and ammunition counters are now flowing out into parking lots and the parking lots have grocery carts abandoned from toilet paper hoarding.

At some point, there will be plenty of blame to go around. For the rest of us, though, we better find a way to navigate the disaster that lying governments, complicit tyrants and well-intending politicians have created. That's not going to be easy nor will it be over in a convenient to the consumer manner. The downside of that is the reality that we are a consumer dependent society now world-wide.

That means we panic when there could be a shortage of toilet paper, line up to buy guns we have no idea how to shoot and watch the paycheck disappear as jobs & hours don't seem to return quite quickly enough for many.

All of a sudden those folks who spent their lives hunting, fishing, growing gardens, becoming masters of weapons crafts are becoming social media interests. For most urbanized Americans a day outdoors is followed by a night by the TV in the warmth of climate-controlled living.

We're so detached from the natural world that most wouldn't think of spending a moment in it unless they're wrapped head to toe in the latest micro-fiber, petroleum extruded, polyester-derived, miracle plastic.
Everyone is in agreement that something has to change. This time there will be more changes than we're able to stomach for quite some time to come. Maybe this time the change needs to start with us first?