Death by Ignorance

I was trying to play Scrabble online tonight and got caught up browsing FB, then in a discussion about the “possibility” of lifting the bans on social interactions in the US and all people returning to work.  I made comments; I read more; I got upset; I did some quick research; here I am…

Nearly 500,000 military personnel died during the U.S. Civil War. That’s almost half of all Americans who have ever died during wartime, and more than a hundred times more than died during the American Revolution, according to the latest estimates from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.May 24, 2015

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/many-americans-died-u-s-wars

US deaths in wars

American Revolutionary War 50,000

War of 1812 20,000

Mexican-Anerican War 17,435

WW1 320,518

WW2 1,076,245

Korean War 128,650

Vietnam War 211,454

War in Afghanistan 22,266

Iraq War 36,710

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

same site

War in Afghanistan killed 0.001% of the US population at that time (2010).

___________________________________________________________________________________

The argument that was posed in this FB talk was that the actual Death rate (according to “early” studies and his observations and understandings of said studies was that the “real” death rate)

is around 0.05% or even 0.001% not 3% not 5%.

My quick research easily concluded that the years spent in the Afghan conflicts gave us  22, 266 deaths or 0.001% of that time’s US population.

COVID-19 in about 2 months has yielded 14,451 deaths in JUST New York City.  That is almost 2/3 of the entire Afghan deaths.  TWO MONTHS.  And, from my readings, we can add 4 things:

1.  We do not know if we have yet hit the high point of the virus here in the US.
2.  We do not Know if this virus is seasonal.
3.  We do not have a vaccine.
4.  All of us (most all) have elderly or immune-compromised loved ones around us.

I do not advocate panic; I do not advocate burying out heads in the sand; I do not advocate being paranoid to the point of never leaving your home.

I DO advocate some sense of an understanding of how serious this is.

I am very sorry that people are inconvenienced by the solid efforts to:

1. protect our loved ones, especially the high-risk ones.
2. not overload our hospitals with the sick so that the highly-ill ones can be taken care of.
3. keep food in a position to be spread out to all.
4. protect people in spite of themselves, at times.

I do have great sorrow for those who are not able to work right now and who are having difficulties making ends meet! 

But, in all seriousness, if you die, or if your spouse or child gets very ill and medications and hospitals are not available, you would wish you had followed the guidelines and stayed home.

I have tried to keep politics out of this, but I have to say that Congress and Upwards Should be even more responsive to the needs of the LIVES of the people. I know that our economy is suffering.  I know it is hard and difficult and all to not keep falling farther and farther behind, but we have a responsibility as adults and as members of this great nation to keep it together through this, not in spite of it.

Again, as always, I love you all.

Stay safe, be smart,

Scott

A Tale and a Thought or Two…

A man was out and about in a large city. He had no mask and no gloves and no worries. He entered a well-to-do hotel and went to a room. He didn’t stop at the front desk nor had he booked a room for the night. He was not concerned about this either. The room was large with a huge bed in the up corner. As he lay on the bed he turned his head and could see out into the hall leading to the next room. The bed was comfortable and he drifted off to sleep. When he awoke, he looked strangely around at the room. It no longer looked familiar. In fact, now he was worried that he was here.

“What will I say to whomever is staying here?” Then, thinking he heard a noise from outside the room. “That must be the maid. What will she think if the wrong person is here?”

He started to sit up and realized he was caught up in the covers and blankets. He tried to push them off, but the more he tried the harder it was. He forced himself to sit and shook his head. Now, everything shifted a tiny bit in the room and he realized he was home, in his bed. The “hall” which was now his own hallway leading to the house. He lay there disconcerted, but knew it had been a dream.

Just a short story to help you if you are feeling uptight or bothered. The scenario above was the one I woke up to this morning. I take some medicine which makes my dreams more frequent and vivid. I really did think I was in a large hotel bedroom. The “shift” which happened when I sat up is common when I actually move, waking up. They used to be night terrors and I used to wake up shouting, screaming, or utterly in panic. It’s funny what just a little more medication can do. Especially when it was taken to calm me down and sleep better since Sis’s death.

We are all having to deal with so much now. I see avoidance behaviors, fear behaviors, denial behaviors, and so on. So many ways all of us try to handle all the mixes of feelings we have and all the things we see others do or hear them saying.

My aunt’s test came back positive, but she is displaying no symptoms whatsoever. There are returning her to her own room. She can’t go to the other facility at the present time since her test was positive.

I am dealing with it all in my own way, a lot of dreaming, but most of it just the realization that all is perfect in the end. I am not trying to make light of anyone’s discomfort or a relative’s death. My faith understands that we may not know how or why it’s perfect, but it happens and there is something much larger going on. My beliefs do not try and pin blame on anyone or anything. We make out own paths and decide their directions. I am realizing more and more that this faith I have chosen will not always be popular with everyone and I won’t always understand it either. I just know and believe. I feel it deep down and in this age’s time of confusion and fear, it’s a rather nice one to fall back on.

Here’s to whatever or whomever you follow. May your faith hold you solid in these trying times.

Scott

When is the Flu NOT the Flu…

Well, I was somewhat humbled yesterday.  Now, for those who don’t want to read, watch, or hear bad news about the COVID-19 virus, please just like if you can or just go somewhere else.  It is not my intention to bother someone more than they can handle.  Having said that, After I say a few things, there is a link to a 34 min talk by an MD/Bariatric Surgeon.  He is honest, open, and blunt about this virus and he needs to heard.  This may be the most important Post I have ever done.  Language and harsh images (not graphic, just harsh) ahead.  You have been told.

Okay, first, me.  Here is a map from the John Hopkins portion of the CDC, or however it is stated:—> Here  <

I wanted you to see this because, the Dr. did his speech in the first 1/2 of March and was worried that we could reach 100,000 confirmed cases by May 15, 2020.  The map will show we have well over 144,000 confirmed cases on the 30th of March.  That is scary enough.  I watched this talk and HAD to share and put it out here.  And you should do the same, please!

Here is the 34:47 talk:   —>  Here  <—

Namaste. Truly love each and every one of you,

Scott

You Died – a poem

You Died

by Scott L Vannatter

June 28, 2019

You died.

Nothing ever tore at my soul as much.

Life nearly ceased to be; peace did so.

Could the anguish of one thing really

devastate so much the core of my being?

You died.

And a part of me, hidden deep within,

shuddered and paled, the life blood leaving

the shell of a man to hold up the gates of life.

You died.

The very love-sense which made me that special

type of human, one who loved, ran, fleeing to parts

of the darkest forest imaginable, cowering in the roots

of the deep tree in which the forest began

those many eons ago.

You died.

My life cannot continue with this path

set before me; the one which sees you with every breath

and pushes you out when I, exhausted, lie down to sleep.

Sleep has no meaning; I wake the same, rotting.

You died.

At least, that’s what I tell myself

as you live your life, calmly, without me.

I am undone as are all whose love never knew

fruition truly.

One who never spoke, and now, never will.

How I Wonder

How I Wonder

By Scott L Vannatter

A Pic, A Vid, A Thought, A Voice

Flicks through my mind and I know

That although through life we have much Choice,

At the end, we all must go.

 

My Dad, a good man, stayed here for a long, long time.

But it seems now that it was short, not long,

That I never got the time to say all I was fine.

I think he knew and that I am not wrong.

 

Now, Sis is gone. Taken after a short while.

Her two grand babies she loved so much.

She spent time with daughter and two mile after mile.

She held them all; they all felt her touch.

 

Mom and I left to care for each other.

So glad that others are around us, too.

I lost my Sis; she was loved by her brother.

But that hole that exists, what shall we do?

 

But, how I wonder at the sights they see,

Not held back by Earthly living are they.

They know it all now, much more than me,

Until this body ceases to be some day.

• Richard L Vannatter – July 25,2016
• Darci D Hill – January 24, 2019