I first published this on 18 February 2021 but unpublished it shortly after because of the animosity and aggression it generated which I had no time or energy to tackle intelligently. Now I am going to put it up again... and then I am going to write something new... reflecting my standpoint in the almost year that has passed since I wrote what stands below...
As my title suggests, I am going to muse about Covid-19 as a relatively senior mother of two toddlers, coupled with a degree in Microbiology (attained before Medical Technologists replaced Microbiologists) and not having worked in the field for quite some time. A mother who does not have the time nor energy to read through all the peer-reviewed literature, never mind find it, but with the innate desire to know and understand more… even beyond that which we are allowed to see.
Microbiology has always fascinated me and always will. Even though one needs an electron microscopic or other means to detect and experience viruses, they have always made ME feel magnificently small. I remain in awe of the microbiological world, without which we could neither live nor thrive, forget not. Microorganisms live within, on and around us, between us, for us, despite us and in spite of us.
I have more often than not found myself pulled in both directions in the face of humanity and how we deal with our littlest living counterparts. Most are unobtrusive, necessary, vivifying and of great service to us and our environment. They keep us healthy, they make us strong, they clean up our mess, they seek to assist the environment in achieving balance, etc. And just like us, there are baddies… and sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, and sometimes there are casualties and sometimes there are none. But, unlike us, they do not have brains, but perhaps that is what makes them infinitely smarter in one particular area: surviving. That is all they live for doing, and their very beings are bent on this one solitary thing: stayin’ alive. They do this so incredibly well because they are also spared all the hindrances we have as a human race: feelings, politics, financially-controlled systems, etc. Wait a minute… maybe they have feelings too, we are not smart enough to know that!
Now, let it be said upfront… I am not a Conspiracy Theorist; but I am a thinker and challenger, aware of all the missing information. I am also not an anti-vaccinator; I am a cautious and deliberate user of tried and tested man-made products when I deem them necessary (and I take full responsibility for my ‘educated’ choices). I have allowed my children to have all the routine vaccinations that have been in circulation for decades to endpoint the debilitating illnesses they were created to curb.
I appreciate that we were gifted minds with a capacity for intelligence that allows us to solve problems. I also appreciate that most of the problems we have, have been created by our very existence. We are essentially a greedy, comfort-seeking bunch who tends to take things too far and inevitably at the expense of something else. Nature is about balance, and we perpetually upset it. And then we find ways to repair our damage, instead of not damaging in the first place. We are reactive instead of proactive… because that suits us and it makes money and creates jobs and heroes. The original doctor was more of a lifestyle coach who assessed your unique make-up and helped you live in a way that prevented you from getting sick. The modern doctor is there for short visits to give you medicine to mask, hide or treat a developed illness… and we have all bought into it. Heavens, antibiotic resistance even exists with our pets because we take them off to the vet for medicine the moment their incredible bodies are in the process of doing what it does to cope with perceived adversity. Yes, I get it. We love our folk and we want to live as long as possible. But, look to Nature… nothing lives forever. And now we have way too many of our kind around living way longer than we ever did before, because of clever minds. And the environment is even worse off. And we are out of balance. We are unhealthier than ever before (yes, I am generalizing). Big Pharma is one of the richest entities in the world, and we continue needing chronic and acute medication. Nutrition is tainted by mass production to keep up with demand, and healthier food is more expensive and unhealthy food is cheaper. Our air is dirty, our water needs to be cleaned… I could go on, but I would not know where to stop. You get the picture.
Which brings me to Covid-19. I have so many questions. I do not think that this pandemic is a lie, but I do suspect that it could be a gross exaggeration. Or shall I say, that our response to it is grossly exaggerated. If it really were, we would never know, because the world and all who are watching will have to keep this story going now. Too much is at stake revealing otherwise. This, here, is under the microscope and we are looking so closely that we are no longer looking further.
And now the swift rollout of vaccines for a vaccine technology that has been tested in a lab for years already, yes… but still. Are we really surprised that there are already a few mutant variants? Is this not great news for Big Pharma… a lifelong need to create updated vaccines for all the new strains which will evolve going forward? And these new, scarier mutations… are we not breeding them by our mercenary and merciless response to Covid-19…. “you are inconveniencing us, we shall kill you”? Is this swift roll-out of vaccines perhaps not driving mutations and increasing the speed and severity? And what is it with plasmids? I recall learning about these jumping genes who inform new more resistant strains of what they needed to change in themselves to evade adversity… I recall that they were mostly associated with bacteria and with DNA, but I also recall that they can work with viruses and RNA too, right? Could they be playing a role here, and how will it play out if this is so?
The balance in our human systems was upset by Covid-19, but we are upsetting it further and perhaps more drastically in our extreme response of ‘Leave us or Die!’. Now cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and all the other things we need to manage medically does not exist anymore? The world is taking care of Covid-19, but in so doing neglecting a host of other important mankind maladies. We are reacting viciously again, instead of asking ourselves: where did we go wrong and what have we got to learn from this virus? What is at stake here? Fear of possibly dying from a Covid-19 infection as opposed to starving to death, choosing death from severe depression, succumbing to the host of other conditions our livelihoods have bred and fed because we are too scared to leave our room and are discouraged to do so anyway?
I cannot lambast the politicians… they simply must keep up appearances. I would not want to be in their shoes… trying to make the right decisions for the collective masses made up of billions and billions of unique individuals with different make-ups, circumstances, education levels, accessibility, beliefs, outlooks, emotional fingerprints, the works! How could they ever get it just right? They are trying to control something, keep the peace, do the right thing… with deficient and dynamic information lacking so much context. It is practically inconceivable.
But my overtired, mommy brain… thankfully distracted with blissfully ignorant toddlers (and my priority of keeping them healthy, well-nourished, happy and buoyant) still occasionally ponders: should we not be letting go a little and let Nature, the, albeit ruthless, master of equalizing without any human intervention, just do its thing… and perhaps the virus will evolve in sync and we can live together in some kind of harmony down the line? And if Covid-19 is not destined to become mildly irritating co-habitant like the common cold or flu, then should we not realize that we may have created this from violating our fellow living creatures and pillaging our Earth and start showing the Universe, by example and with weapons down, that we can share and be respectful of all living things?
Two wrongs do not make a right. I do not want to lose a loved one. But I do not want to lose a future either. I believe in BALANCE and I hope we can find it before the scale is irreparably shattered.
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