I've resisted writing in this thread up till now but I feel I have to say something, and I'm not looking to cause an argument or discourse in the ranks or anything like that, however it seems to be the stiff upper lip kind of 'it'll never happen here' type of mentality that is prevalent in this discussion and possibly I think another should be aired.
OK.
My brother is a doctor, in Scotland. He came over to Australia recently and while he was here I was asking him about 'Bird Flu'.
To give you some background, I am the hippy in the family - the one interested in Reiki and alternative building and alternative healing etc. He is MR. Straight. Anytime I came at him with anything 'out of the ordinary' he would dispute it, spout facts and refuse to consider that there was anything in it worth thinking about.
What he told me worried me more than anything coming out of 'the media'. First of all he said the drug companies are making a killing under licence of the 'governments' to produce a vaccine that absolutely will not work (he is in a position to know these things - believe me). The 'governments' are very publicly getting the drug companies to produce these ineffective vaccines purely so that they can be seen to be doing something or more to the point can be seen to 'have' done something when the poo hits the fan.
He said that any Pandemic in the past, judging by the data he has read, will pale into insignificance compared with what we will be facing. he says the Health Service are going to be completely ill equiped and swamped by what will hit them.
I am far more able to trust my brother than I am the media and it worries me that the majority of people I hear talking about it seem to have very little understanding of what it is that we as the human race may well be about to face.
I for one really hope that it never comes to pass. However, would it not make sense to become a little bit prepared in-case it does?
We, for instance, have just planted large veggie patches so that if and when the virus does make it's leap from bird to human we will be in a position to live off our own food source rather than come into contact with food handled/sneezed on by sick people. Also we don't have to actually go into town where infected people will be.
If it hits really hard then I'm prepared to take of into the hills with my family and sit it out for 6 months.
Please don't get me wrong. I'm not a 'survivalist' hoping it happens so that I can prove I'm right. I'm a Dad and husband who is trying to think ahead and second guess this problem.
Imagine if you will, the virus leaps from bird to human. You all know how quick and easy it is to catch normal flu. It stands to reason that this would be no different and could well be worse. If this is the case, how long is it going to be before the financial institutions that we all rely on so much are going to be compromised?
When I say that I obviously mean that the people who run and control our money are going to be sick at the least and dead at the worst. If that happens, how long do you think it will take for the financial institutions to collapse. You are going to need money to buy food, or at least whatever food is still available and useless medecine too, not forgetting petrol and diesil while it lasts. When there are no deliveries the shops will run out!
What do you do then?
Where are you going to go?
It's going to be a wee bit late to start planning then isn't it?
I hope you don't think I'm scaremongering, I wouldn't want to be accused of that. I do however think that you all should be considering the 'what if' factor more than you obviously are at the moment. It's so easy to bury your head in the sand and spout on that it's never going to happen and that it's all a media beat up.
But what if it does happen?
What are you going to do?
Do you think that the restaurant around the corner that is opening in a month and wants signs off you is really going to need them? Are you really going to care about making them anyway? How would they pay you? In food perhaps? OK who handled the food? Were they sick? Who cooked it? Were they sick?
All I'm asking you to do is have a wee think about what you might do, just in-case.
Call me a nutter, I don't care, I've been called far worse but I can't sit back and listen or read what you guys are saying without saying something.
So please take what I say in the spirit it is meant - and that is friendship.
Cheers
Simon.
(Now where's me AK 47?)
