On Fear

fear

/ˈfir/

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noun

1. an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

   "he is prey to irrational fears"

verb

1. be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.

   "farmers fear that they will lose business"

If, while walking in the woods, I encountered a bear, I'd be fearful, because facts indicate it's much bigger than me and has ginormous claws.  That's reasonable, even though it's extremely rare for a bear to attack a human.  If I were in an area where bears frequented I might even carry bear spray with me.

If I were about to jump out of a plane, I'd be afraid.  That fear would make me ensure that my parachute was packed correctly.  If there was a 1% chance that the parachute wasn't packed right, I wouldn't jump. 

Fear can be a good thing when it's rational.  If there's a possibility of what we fear happening, we can plan for it.  

Of course there are irrational fears too.  If my 'fight or flight' instinct kicks in when presented with a picture of a bear, that's irrational, even though my body feels a shadow of the fear.  Facts indicate that there is no possible way of being harmed by a picture of a bear (except a paper cut maybe). 

I think you know where I'm going with this.  If there's a 1% chance I'll die from something and there's an action or actions I can take to alleviate that risk, I'm gonna do it.  

Get vaccinated.

My Covid Story

 I was vaccinated in March of this year, and live in a county where almost 99% of its residents are vaccinated.  And I tested positive for Covid this week.  

Before you jump to the conclusion that the vaccine doesn't work, let me set you straight.  It works, and it worked for me.  

I live in a town fueled by summer tourism.  There were thousands of people from all over the US here a couple of weeks ago for an annual country music festival.  Just last weekend a street fair brought in vendors and visitors from all over the Minnesota/North Dakota areas.  Every weekend the town is full of visitors enjoying their lake cabins.  

Any one of them could have brought Covid to me.  I suspect that a routine blood draw for an annual physical may have been the source.  I have really hard veins to find, so the phlebotomist spent more time with me than normal.  She was sniffing up a storm and said her allergies were worse than normal.  I had just left my provider's office where she told me she'd quit rather than getting vaccinated.  Both of the local healthcare systems have given a deadline of November 1st to get the vaccine, and just like the mandatory flu shot of a few years ago, workers are up in arms.  I don't get it.  I made the decision right then and there that this provider wouldn't have the pleasure of treating me again.

I had the blood draw on Tuesday, and worked a retail job both Friday and Saturday.  After work I walked through the street fair and spent some time with 2 of my favorite vendors.

Sunday I mowed part of my lawn in preparation for putting up an electric fence.  A lot of dirt was kicked up, and I had a scratchy throat that afternoon and evening.

Monday the scratchy throat continued, and by Monday evening it felt like I had a cold coming on, with just a dry cough and scratchy throat.  

Tuesday I woke up with a headache, jaw pain, sneezing and congestion.  No fever, but I knew I'd need to confirm Covid since I was working again that weekend.  Test was done and I settled in at home to wait for the results - rapid tests are in short supply here, the nurse said, and were being used for patients in the hospital for other reasons.

Wednesday I was pretty miserable - felt like a bad sinus infection, but still no fever.  I have a pulse oximeter, and my O2 levels were at 91% (normal for me is 99-100).  I knew that if it went below 90 I needed to go to the ER, so I kept an eye on it.  Other than being slightly out of breath doing my normal chores, I wouldn't tell the difference.  That afternoon I got the positive test results and notified everyone I knew I'd come in contact with.  Dayquil kept most of the symptoms at bay, but I went through a whole box of Kleenex!

Another restless night of sniffling and congestion, and Thursday brought me O2 levels back up to 95%, but I suddenly lost my sense of taste and smell.  Still no fever.

Friday I still couldn't taste or smell, and my headache seemed like the worst symptom.  I felt a little better though, and the headache soon went away.

Saturday - woke up feeling rested and much better.  I was beginning to taste some salt and sweet tastes, but no sense of smell. My sinuses were clear, and my O2 was up to 97%.  

Sunday (today) I woke up again rested after sleeping soundly all night.  I feel almost normal except for a dry cough still no sense of smell.  Two more days and I'll be done with Covid isolation and can rejoin the world!

So the vaccine worked the way it's supposed to.  The actual vaccine itself was out of my system within 72 hours, but it set up the antibodies to recognize the infection and overcome the infection, quickly and efficiently.  Because a vaccine doesn't guarantee you'll never get sick.  No vaccine guarantees that.  I didn't end up in the hospital taking up a bed that was needed for a stroke patient.  THAT is the purpose of the vaccine.  

Why Aren't You Vaccinated?

Why aren't you vaccinated?

"It was developed too quickly to be safe"

   Actually, the technology that made that possible has been in development for decades.  Some day it could be used to cure diseases like Sickle Cell Anemia.

"It changes my DNA"

   No, it takes the virus and changes IT, so your body recognizes the virus and goes to work making antibodies without it possibly killing you."

"People with the vaccine can still get Covid."

   Yes, they can.  I won't get sick enough to be hospitalized, but I can still carry the full viral load and transmit it to you, and it could kill you or people you love.  Get the vaccine - even if I don't know you, I still don't want you to die.  Even if your political views are opposite mine, I still don't want you to die.  Unless you're a Canadian Thistle in my yard, I don't want you to die.

"The government can't control me."

      I guess you'll be wanting to mail back those relief checks then.  The government isn't making you do anything, yet.  The government's role in this is to protect its citizens from harm, including you.  Public health isn't political.  By the way, wear your seatbelts and don't drink and drive.

"I'm young and healthy.  I won't get sick."

   How about that 11 year old daughter of yours?  She can't get the vaccine, and even if you have no symptoms, you can pass it on to her.  The Delta variant is affecting children differently than the original virus - kids are on respirators in hospitals in the south where vaccination rates are low.

"I've heard the side effects from the shot are bad."

   My personal experience was about 10-12 hours of a temp of 99.8 and body aches after the second shot.  I woke up the next day feeling perfectly normal.  I'm glad I had those symptoms - it tells me my body was making antibodies against Covid-19.  Some folks only get a sore arm, others no symptoms at all.  

"First they said we shouldn't wear masks, and then said we should.  I don't trust the science."

    When Covid-19 first hit the US, I worked in a small walk-in clinic, where folks would grab a whole    box of masks from my desk and walk out with them.  That happened on a bigger scale across the country, and mask manufacturers couldn't keep up with the demand, leaving the very people who take care of you when you're sick vulnerable.  Now there's a good supply, and the science shows they work.  This is a brand new disease, and people just like you and me are studying it and letting you know what they know as soon as they know.  Expect that info to change as they learn more - the theory of gravity wasn't developed overnight either.

"They're implanting microchips."

       I can turn the lights on and off now with my mind.  <eye roll>

"It's a hoax."

   Tell that to my friend who was on a respirator for 6 weeks before dying.  Come on, you're smarter than that - don't be a chump.  Sources of disinformation know you want to believe that, so they're feeding it to you.  Call your family doctor and ask your questions.  Don't do your research on Facebook or Dr. Google; you'll only end up confused and angry.

"I just don't want to."

   If this was Ebola, and there was a readily available vaccine, would you want to stand by and watch your family, friends and neighbors bleed out of every bodily opening, or would you ask them to get the vaccine?  What if you were the source of the infection?  Covid-19 is more transmissible than Ebola.  There are plenty of people who would miss you if you were gone.  Get the vaccine.

"You haven't convinced me.  Just not gonna do it."

   Okay then.  That's your right.  Just like anything else, your actions have consequences.  You might not be able to get on an airplane for that dream trip to Europe - some nations are already doing vaccine passports.  If you want to eat out at the fabulous restaurant in NYC, sorry, only vaccinated people are admitted.  Your employer has the right to enforce vaccinations, so welcome to unemployment!  Just as you have the right, so do the people impacted by your actions.  

Both Things Can Be True

 In the past week, there were two trips to the very edges of space, not by NASA astronauts, but by non-government employees.  Two of the passengers were billionaires.

Twitter has been flooded with criticism aimed at both of these men.  Their money could be spent saving our planet, feeding children, etc.  Or 90% of the money in the US belongs to 1% of the population.  Or just "Jeff Bezos is evil" (I guess Richard Branson is slightly more likeable).

On the other hand, these trips are paving the way for future commercial space travel, with rockets that can be used more than once.  Industries like mining that are hurting our planet can be moved to space.  It's no longer science fiction that an asteroid, hollowed out, can safely and comfortably hold tens of thousands of people.  And Jeff Bezos gave away $200 million dollars today to two do-gooders to do with what they please.

Both things can be true.  

In today's uber-polarized world, EVERYTHING has to fall on one side or the other; my side or your side.  It's nothing new - the Wright brothers were laughed at when they attempted to fly.  And today, the founder of several airlines is paving the way for commercial space travel.

Billionaires and millionaires have helped to build this country, for better and sometimes worse.  Railroad tycoons of the 19th and 20th century invested in railroads because they recognized the profit that could be made by transporting wares quickly to their destination.  Many of these men were ruthless and would do anything to enrich themselves.  And ordinary people now had the means and ability to travel.  Oranges from California could be experienced for the first time by settlers in North Dakota.

Thomas Edison was ridiculed when he introduced a machine called a kinetoscope.  It took photographs and moved them through a reel so it appeared that the pictures moved.  Only one person at a time could watch the film, but Edison and others recognized the potential of the idea.  So then the projector was invented, so that the moving pictures could be shown to many people at a time.  Today, high-def images are streamed into our living rooms instantly.  

Yes, there is great inequity in our country.  But the people who played by the rules and became billionaires aren't to blame - the rules are.  It's easy to point the finger at Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson as being responsible for the woes of our world.  It's much harder to do the work to change the rules so that the rest of us get a piece of the pie.  

We don't have to be angry about everything.  We were told as children to "reach for the stars".  Today, we're closer than ever.

RBG

 On election night of 2016, I was sickened by the results.  All of those people I knew that either didn't vote or voted for a 3rd party candidate because they didn't believe their vote mattered.  It mattered all right. 

And for the last 4 years, we've had a leader that openly expresses his hatred.  Hatred for black people, hatred of disabled people, hatred of women, hatred of Democrats.  

Last night RBG died.  And the white men in power immediately pounced, vowing to replace her with someone that wants to keep white men in power indefinitely.  Within two hours, Mitch McConnell vowed to confirm whoever Trump nominates.  

An editor for The Atlantic, when interviewed today, called the Democratic party the "party of inclusion", and the Republicans the "party of restoration".  I started to think about this, and while I believe I know what inclusion is, I wasn't so sure about restoration.  Restoration to what?  Restoration to when?  How far back do we go?  Back to 1776 when our country was declared free of England?  Slavery was legal, women didn't have a vote, and white men held all the cards.  

Or maybe restoration means going back to the 1950's, when slavery was no longer legal, but people of color were still prevented from voting, or eating in a "whites only" restaurant.  When a boy could be lynched and hanged because a white woman said he flirted with her.  

I prefer the party of inclusion; that's no secret.  The country where every vote counts, and every person is equal.  Equal if you're a woman or man, black, brown, or red, rich or poor, gay, transgender, or straight.  The rights that we have had to fight for, claw for.  The rights that Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent her life defending.

Rest with the angels Ruth.  You did good.

Gerbils and the Black Plague

 In the years 535-536, a sudden change in climate occurred throughout the known world.  The sun turned blue, and a haze filtered what little light there was.  Temperatures dropped, crops failed, and people died.  The theory is that a volcano erupted somewhere in the world and caused a temporary change in climate.

In a little corner of Africa, gerbils who hosted the Yersinia bacterium were forced to leave their isolation and venture further and further to survive.  They met rats for the first time, and rats lived near human populations.  

Five years after the event, the plague first arrived.  150 million people died worldwide, and we learned about it from our history books.  The Black Plague that decimated the world started with climate change.  

Now, the climate is changing again, not due to a volcanic eruption or an asteroid hitting the earth, but because of our own actions.  Modern medicine gives us a sense of security we don't deserve, and in my lifetime HIV, Ebola, SARS, H1N1 and now Covid-19 have erupted and for the most part, been dealt with.

Today, wildfires are burning in California, Oregon, Colorado, and other places because of man-made climate change.  Here in Minnesota we've gotten used to hazy skies in the summer when wildfires burn in Canada.  

Bigger and badder hurricanes are hitting the coasts, one after another.  

We are actively working towards our own extinction event.  

Fear and Loathing, Socialism and Fascism

Online, in person, on TV, I hear people throwing around terms like Socialism, Fascism,  and Communism, and half the time I don't think they know what the words mean.  I knew a bit, but had to research the terms myself to be clear.  They're being used to inspire fear and loathing, and it's working.  So let's dive into each one a little.  

Let's start with democracy.  It's a system where every person has a say, where every vote is counted.  The United States is not a democracy, although it is a democratic republic.

A Republic allows every citizen to have a vote, but also has a group of "wise people" called Electors that take input from the state's voters and place the only votes that count.  This system was chosen initially by the founding fathers of the U.S. because so many citizens may never meet the candidates and understand who they're voting for.  No TV, Facebook, or Twitter in those days (and no political ads!).  So the Electoral College back then had the power to override the popular vote in the best interest of the country if they thought it necessary.  Today, they can't override the vote (trust me, they tried in 2016), so the Electoral College is simply a quaint remnant of the past.  Except it can be corrupted by gerrymandering, or re-drawing districts so that a particular party has an easy win.

Socialism is a system where everyone pays into the pot to benefit everyone else.  Think of it like dinner with friends, where we all agree to split the bill equally.  It works well if everyone orders the same thing - we all get what we put in.  But then there's always that one friend that will order the lobster and have 4 glasses of wine when we had hamburgers and soda.  We just paid for their greed.  And then there's the friend who has fallen on hard times and we buy them dinner.  5 friends splitting the cost of one meal isn't so painful, and it's the compassionate thing to do.

We all pay taxes to fund things like public schools, roads, Social Security and Medicare.  That's socialism.  It is not democratic socialism, because we, the people have very little say over what our taxes are used for.  Our government has been "borrowing" money from Social Security for years, for example, to fund various projects.  That's our friend with the lobster meal.  The big bank and auto bailouts are another example,  Our money (trillions of it) got banks out of hot water after their greed stole billions from individual citizens.  

Democratic Socialism uses the same concept as socialism, however it gives citizens more of its own money when they're in need, like our friend at dinner who has fallen on hard times.  Our tax money would be used for what it's intended for instead of of paying CEO salaries in bailouts and funding wars.  Both socialism and democratic socialism are squishy; both can be good, both can be bad, depending who is wielding the power.  Both allow for capitalism, but one is more compassionate than the other.  The compassionate sort is illustrated by countries like England, Sweden, and Denmark where taxes are high, but healthcare is paid for, paid leave is generous, and the quality of life can be very good.  The bad sort can be seen in countries like Venezuela.

Finally, Fascism.  This is the one to fear and loathe.  A dictator is in charge, and has the power to control the media.  If someone speaks out against the leader, there are real consequences (death, poisoning, you get the picture).  If the US was a fascist state, individual states would no longer have any power, all power residing instead with the leader of the US.  Italy under Mussolini was the original fascist state, and Nazism is an extreme form of fascism.

Robert Paxton writes, [Fascism is] a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.

So listen to the political banter, but do your homework.  It's really easy to win a contest through inspiring fear and loathing.  Don't fall for it.  Work towards the future you want.  Vote.