H5N1

I thought about the H5 strain the other day...and how its potential for destruction rivals the Spanish Influenza of 1918. And at the same time, I couldn’t help but think (selfishly) what this could mean for my future…for any of our futures…which are so painstakingly planned. How does high school prepare you for a pandemic? I don’t remember taking a course on career development in a post-apocalyptic society. Imagine…investing so much time and effort into achieving a goal through the rigors of society, only to see society collapse beneath you…we plan for the future, expecting that the future holds nothing but success and progress for humanity.

At this point my thoughts aren’t even on the H5 strain itself, but rather on the state of humanity as a whole. And yet, if society destroys itself, it won’t change my purpose…there’s always potential for purpose…because there will always be injustice…and there will always exist a place for those that wish to fight it. I’ve had to face it…we live in a world run by economics. You’ll see a father kill his entire family for some petty insurance money…or a kid throw his life away – rob a bank, ransack a house – for a little cash. And for what? To buy a nice TV or a better car…I mean, when you really think about it, people kill people…hurt people…for needless stuff! It’s insane. But what can you expect from people, when this is all they see from the societies that govern them?

My parents once told me that if a madman planted a bomb in a crowded mall and called in the threat, the mall authorities wouldn’t evacuate the crowds until they could be certain that a bomb was indeed in the mall…the reason? Purely economic. “What if it were a crank call, and we cleared out all of these paying customers from the mall? We’d lose hundreds of thousands of dollars!” Sounds crazy, right? But unfortunately it’s true. Unfortunately, some people die simply because a big-shot didn’t want to lose a buck. It shouldn’t be surprising…this type of logic exists in every facet of society…from wars, to disease, to disasters. H5 is no different, and the threat is imminent…the virus is one mutation away from becoming a full-fledged airborne virus, one capable of transfer from birds to humans to other humans. Vaccines can be created…precautions can be taken…but nothing is truly being done…the reason? Don’t want the malls to clear out too fast…might lose some profit. Purely economic. It kills me.

Sick,
BR80