Evolution Keeps Happening - Covid19
Yes, I am looking towards the future but I think it is worth exploring how the pandemic took over our lives. I don't believe it was conceived in a lab and meant to be used as a weapon.
When I grew up, my father was a little obsessive compulsive about hand-washing. He was convinced that if you were sick, it was because you didn't wash your hands enough. I had to wash my hands before and after meals and before I went out and when I came back in. If he was home, he would inspect my hands after washing and often send me back to redo. I was always irritated when I would have to go back and redo, but, in fairness to my father, other than the few months before he died of renal failure, he was never sick in his life. Never had a cold, sniffles nothing.
When I became an adult, I was surprised to see that most people didn't know how to wash their hands. Little things, mostly. Like not using soap. Not scrubbing. Having your hands point upwards so that the pathogens just run down your arms. Not taking off your watches and rings before washing. That is why I don't wear my rings often. Not drying your hands which is also important. Not washing your hands long enough. Washing your hands and then reapplying makeup and touching your face and not washing your hands again. (In my lifetime, there was a provincial election in Ontario that was basically won because of a video of proper hand-washing. I don't it was patronizing but the general public really responded to it.) Anyway, there is a special test that can be done with a special lotion. After application, a subject washes their hands and then puts it under a black light. You can literally see what you have left behind. It is often very sobering. I think they should have public health nurses or volunteers out in schools, malls, and large gatherings teaching people how to wash their hands.
So, thanks to my father's obsession with hand-washing, I was a healthy child. In my first year University, I was sick constantly. Throat infection. Ear infection. Sinus infection. Bronchitis. As I was calling my parents for sympathy, my father would be telling me to wash my hands better. He was right, however, I was also living in a coed residence that was one large petri dish. And, as it turned out, my tonsils were enormous, once they were out, I was "cold" free for a couple of decades.
However, another thing that happened a lot for me as a child is that I went to camp. A lot. Bible camp, music camp, creative writers camp, band camp, athletic camp, Brownie camp, Girl Guide Camp, drama camp, Student Match camp, leadership camp, and a lot of repeats. Looking back, it appears that my parents liked holidays from me. Regardless, we had a bonfire every night. It seemed the first and last night, we also had a weenie roast. We were given one wiener each to cook our own hot dog and three marshmallows each. If there was chocolate and graham crackers, I was unaware. Anyway, the procedure was that we had to find our own stick and it had to be a fallen one so that we weren't destroying nature. So, we had to find a stick in the forest on the ground and clean it up and there was our cooking tool. There was a learning curve to putting your wiener on your stick, and if you dropped your wiener in the fire, you would have to spear it or get someone else to spear it for your because that was your dinner. So, basically you got a burnt weineri with the added bonus of ashes from wood. I learned a trick with the marshmallows. If you lit them on fire and then blew it out, you could lift the burnt part off, and then light the rest of the marshmallow on fire, etc. If you did it right, you could get four layers off one marshmallow. Of course, it tasted nothing like a marshmallow because you were essentially eating soot. There was no hand-washing going on. But, we didn't get sick despite multiple pathogens that we didn't ever have a clue about. The reason we didn't get sick was basically because of herd immunity. Children play in dirt and occasionally eat dirt. They get exposed to things and develop immunity to it. Also, I don't remember allergies when I was growing up.
The world is in a constant state of evolution and often things happen because they have to happen. As a people, we have not been kind to the Earth despite significant warnings to do so. We have put too much value on money and status. We haven't valued each other as much as we should. We have taken our lives for granted and not focused on what is important. The pandemic has forced the world to slow down, live in the moment, and be present. We have learned what we really value and for the first time in a long time, we realize that our survival depends on each other.
I am not suggesting the deaths had to happen. That is an enduring tragedy but hopefully a forever wake-up call to not to return to business as usual pre-pandemic. Our world can't endure that. Herd immunity was not allowed to develop because of the lethality and the uncertainty of the virus. We have all had to be responsible citizens. Now, the world is gradually re-opening. Some say it is too quick. Others says that due to pandemic fatigue, society was more at risk for people just needing to get out. We don't know what the future holds.
What we do know is that in the same way we need to listen to our bodies, we need to listen to the Earth to the messages she is trying to tell us. Slowing down is not a bad thing. And, if we are looking, we can find beauty among us. I strongly suggest Selkirk Waterfront.
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