The Start of a New Decade

The decade has not started well for the world.

I have begun a dozen blogs in the last couple of weeks. Somehow, they all seemed trivial under the current circumstances. On the other hand, I'll probably finish them since any distraction or form of levity these days is not a bad thing. Everyone who is alive right now, 2020, knows of course that I'm speaking about the coronavirus and self isolation.

I had already decided that Time magazine won't have to search far for its "person of the year".  Groups of people and inanimate objects have been selected in the past. Since the "ebola fighters" were picked in 2014, wouldn't the coronavirus workers be the obvious choice for this year? There are so many dedicated and essential people on the job right now, and what greater news story is there likely to be this year than entire countries being shut down from this virus? And yet, there are those that work tirelessly to help others and try to maintain a sense of normalcy.

There's a beautiful video created by children that says it all.

 https://www.facebook.com/hometownharpist/videos/517487039192560/

What about the word of the year? I can't imagine anything much different than "social distancing".

I recently watched the movie "Contagion" on Netflix. As movies do, it moved quickly and skimmed the surface of what happens when there's a world wide spread of a disease. After all, there's only so much you can squeeze into two hours. I did however, find it interesting that much of the movie looked like current news reports. It demonstrated the rapid spread throughout communities, the front line workers trying to save lives, the endless deaths, scientists' attempts to create vaccines, fraudsters taking advantage of a desperate population, and ensuing chaos in society. I was surprised that some of the terminology coined in this movie, is what is is currently being used by us all.

So that's about all I have to say on the topic at this time. I have nothing much to add as we are bombarded with news reports and horror stories daily. My last comment is simply this...I am proud of the country in which we live, and how things are being handled. Our prime minister is doing a fine job with daily morning updates to reassure a frightened population in a calm, straightforward, and respectful manner.

Stay well, my friends. The rest of my blogs will contain updates on activities during my recent  weeks in captivity.