QUARANTINE
Published September 15, 2009 | 
Ring-a-Ring o’Rosies
A Pocket full of Posies
“A-tishoo! A-tishoo!”
We all fall Down!
Just a quick pause in our busy day to remind viewers that H1N1 is a PANDEMIC. Much like those dark ages of yore.. we must QUARANTINE our own family members. We must live in fear. We must panic. We must scrub our hands with steel wool while screaming, “It won’t come clean! It won’t come clean!” at the top of our congested lungs! Thank you local news for being so intelligent and discerning. Thank you for not feeding a panic. Ok. I’m much better now!
Wait. No I’m not. I’m sorry, but am I the only one who thinks the voices out there are getting loud and stupid? Between shouting politicians, swearing athletes, silly singers and “all hype all the time” TV news, I’m beginning to fear that the whole herd is “Toys in the Attic” Crazy.
I honestly could not believe our local television station yesterday did a piece telling viewers that “Medical experts are urging healthy families to formulate a plan if and when members start to get sick.” You’d almost think that sounded reasonable until you understood the context. Even the poor “experts” seem conflicted in that they want people to be smart but not feed the silliness. Yet they are forced to reach the public through tinfoil hat wearing reports who manage to hype family quarantines over washing hands. Funny thing is that the CDC and the actual numbers don’t in anyway support framing basic hygiene around colds and flu to be something akin to preparation for the black plague.
Now just in case someone misses the point here. Prudence is wise in all things. I get that. Yet, people should not panic when they hear a child sneeze. I invite anyone to visit the CDC website and read the facts. It just seems to me that there is a sudden upsurge in dim wit and high volume.
And now you know why I paddle. Basic safety. Sea Kayaking is simply a prudent quarantine procedure to protect yourself from Mad World disease.
And newspapers don’t sell… Go figure.
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5 Responses to QUARANTINE
Can’t think of a better reason to go paddling and simply get out in nature. Quiet, calm, sensible.
Does anybody remember the hysteria of Y2K?
We were all scampering for the “end of the world” event that proved to be a total fizzer.
I didn’t subscribe to it but many did.
Admittedly some folk must find something to fill their bland days and add excitement to a cubicle 9to5 existence.
H1N1 is this week’s topic since Whacko’s death is now done and dusted (we are all waiting for sightings with him hanging out with Elvis).
However, there is always the option of not watching (or owning) a TV.
Call me bigot, reactionary or visionary but that’s what I do.
And suddenly my mind is not full of junk, lies and brainwash.
I even find the time to be creative (electronically and physically), read a book (or magazine: kayak porn) or even socialize.
I gave up the TV a few years back now, once I moved back from Los Angels and suddenly saw the light.
It was easier than giving up coffee
Try it, you will be surprised
I may be inefficient, but I wonder how people find the time for TV.
I’ve gone many years of my life without TV. Can’t stand all the durn pauses for repeated advertisements. Yoda to Luke – ‘You must learn patience!’, but even Luke didn’t have 3 repeat ads every 7 or 8 minutes. I like movies, though, and a computer is fine for that.
Amazing what one finds the time for without it. (TV… not patience) What was the pertinent book? 1984, or Animal Farm?
Now why on earth would anyone WANT to give up coffee, Gnarlydog? Or chocolate. Or Rum.
Derrick, if we were all as afraid of this pandemic thing as THEY want us to be, then as paddlers, we’d get into our cockpits ashore, and never get our hulls wet. Someone would still be screaming that we need PFD’s just in case it rains hard. And helmuts in case of hail. Kbonkers.
Yup. Paddling’s fun.
MarcP
Studies have shown that many folks with high blood pressure will enjoy normal pressures if they will agree not to listen to radio, watch TV or read newspapers. I’d say more, but there’s a bent over man pushing a cart outside my window calling, “Bring out your dead.”
You see, there’s the crux.. I never watch TV… until fall when I get silly and hook the thing up to watch football (my one real guilty pleasure).. But once you hook it up again, you have a household turning it on to see what we’ve missed over the last year like mountain folk taken to the big city.. Suddenly a week or two later, I’m ready to fling myself off a cliff onto a trash covered parking lot filled with broken glass..