Sars and War

RE: [spiers] Sars and War

Thanks for this timely message. I am contemplating flying into
Singapore (the fares are ridiculously cheap) and then on to Thailand to
visit manufacturer and bring back my samples. Everybody in Asia seems
to say to come on over. Everybody in US says not to go over. Isn't
that ironic? At the same time I don't want to return home and everybody
wears surgical masks around me!!

I guess my fear is not being in Asia but being in the plane on the way
to Asia for a long period of time with bad air circulation. But then
what about the flight attendants who do it regularly? The verdict is
still out for me and I still have not bought my ticket.

Any thoughts or others in similar predicament?

-----Original Message-----
From: wileyccc@aol.com [mailto:wileyccc@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 3:42 PM
To: spiers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [spiers] Sars and War


Greetings,

I haven't been around that long, but I do have in hand my World Health
Organization immunization card and sure enough, from the mid-70's, are
the
entries for smallpox vaccination.

This is the vaccine for a horrendous disease that was supposed to be
eradicated by the early 80's, but supposedly some one cooked some up,
and is
planning to reintroduce it.

SARS is a pneumonia that spreads fast, and can be fatal for some elderly
and
children.

Happily one does not necessarily have to travel to do this business, but
the
travel part is fun. From 1980 to 2000 the world was a relatively
peaceful
place, so what we have now - war, terrorism and disease may seem rather
new.

I don't think it is as bad yet as it was in the 70's, although it very
well
may get as bad. Afghanistan shares a common border with China, US
control of
Iraq alarms Russia. When Nixon went to China in 1971, the Chinese had
over a
million men in North Vietnam supporting the Vietnamese war effort
against
USA. It won't be any different this time around.

While terrorists were shooting up airports and bombing discos, I was
spending
a lot of time in both. And again, in China, I spent a lot of time with
people from these countries. They may not have wanted ME dead, since
that
would be rude, inasmuch as I was sitting with them, but they sure wanted
US
dead. People were quite angry with us back then, too.

In spite of disease, war, terrorism, life went on. One has to take far
more
precautions against pickpocketing than one has to worry about disease,
war or
terrorism. I disagree with those who say "pretend you are a Canadian
overseas" or otherwise somehow disguise your nationality. First it
cannot be
done: if David Duke and Louis Farrakhan both got off a crowded flight in

Frankfurt, everyone would know instantly they are both Americans. We
simply
cannot hide the fact. What saves you is, again, your insignificance.

As for disease, eat right and exercise. I belong to sports clubs in
various
foreign cities and when disease was rampant we still splashed blood
sweat and
tears all over each other. Generally disease kills the unhealthy, so
stay
healthy!

Pope John Paul II has picked an interesting theme for his pontificate,
"be
not afraid." It is an interesting choice of words. He does not say "be

fearless;" he states it in the negative, "be not afraid." He does not
say
"be courageous" since that may be asking too much in these times. He is
proposing to us how to be, "be not afraid." I think what this means is
there
is indeed plenty to be afraid of, and we should see it, all there is to
be
afraid of, and know it. But having considered it all, be not afraid.
Keep
going.

As bad as it gets, it can be very good, but you have to keep going.

John

Bookmark this post --- Email this post