Corona - A Matter of Perspective
People can scarcely believe the effects brought on by this new plague called the Corona 19 Virus. What started in the United States with just a few cases scattered on the West Coast and in New York early in the Spring of 2020, started to quickly mushroom into hundreds, then thousands. Then hundreds of thousands. And finally, millions.
And there were deaths from this plague. By the end of summer 2020, it was over 200,000 fatalities. Just in the United States. Hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed, and resources running low on just about everything.
What’s worse, statistics available at the time didn’t even remotely begin to include those “unknown” or undiagnosed cases. You know, the “asymptomatic” ones. The “Lurkers” out there were still all too contagious.
Not everyone catching the virus would experience significant symptoms, while others would slip deeper into the sickness, and often expire alone, only to be comforted by brave health care workers in place of family or friends.
Finally, by the end of 2020, life-saving vaccines were approved for emergency use. At last, a chance to fight this pestilence and maybe someday, return to normalcy. The only certainty is that it will be up to future historians, many years from now, to know the true scope of all of this.
What we do know is that in just a few short weeks starting in March 2020, everyone’s world has changed. Within a tiny march of days, our schools and businesses closed. Airlines, bars, hotels and restaurants, and theme parks, just about everything closed.
And most of us endured lock-down conditions, not just to protect ourselves, but also our neighbors and essential workers. Although many people are trying to start returning to a more “normal” life, the ever-present specter of a deepening pandemic is still a very clear and present danger.
Our world has changed and will not be the same for years to come.
My sister, Pat Smith-Wood is a gifted writer and a published author of a series of mystery novels, beginning with “The Easter Egg Murder”.
Be sure to look for her books that available on our Amazon Affiliate Shop.
She sent me this story, which is from an e-mail that she received, and I want to share it with you. Maybe it will provide you with the “matter of perspective” needed to get through this.
Dave-
“I think this is interesting. Our paternal grandmother was born in December 1899, so that’s close enough to be exactly what this piece describes for her during her lifetime. She was a corker, and never let anything stand in her way.
She gave birth to five boys, and each birth was two years apart. She lived to be 99. I thought of that when I read this email. See what you think. –
Patricia Smith Wood
-Forwarded from unknown-
Today is Saturday, May 9, 2020. It’s a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria. For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.
On your 14th birthday, World War I starts and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday.
50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million. On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%.
That runs until you are 38. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet. And don’t try to catch your breath.
On your 41st birthday, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war. Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40’s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime.
At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish. From your birth, until you are 55 you dealt with the fear of Polio epidemics each summer. You probably experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or die.
At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict. During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation.
On your 62nd birthday, you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended.
When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900.
How did they endure all of that? When you were a kid in 1985 and didn’t think your 85-year-old grandparent understood how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was to you.
Yet they survived through everything listed above.
Perspective is an amazing art. Refined and enlightening as time goes on. Let’s try and keep things in perspective.
Your parents and/or grandparents were called to endure all of the above – you are called upon to stay home and sit on your couch.
It could be worse.”
