A world changed in 60 years.

 

A world changed in 60 years.

When I was small, being sick was a dangerous business. We lived in a town of about five thousand people and had one Romanian doctor who was over 65. I was nine years old when my mother showed signs of a heart attack and my dad sent me to get doctor Harris. I had never been out of the house in the middle of the night, but I ran like hell. There were no telephones in town and we had one old doctor with his leather case containing the magical tools of his trade. He was old, but fast. He had to wait for me a few times. There was no ambulance, paramedics, or lab. He gave my mom an injection of something and she lived many more years.

I was reminded of the story last week. This time, I was the patient.

For the last two and a half years, I followed all the medical advice to avoid getting COVID. I am highly compromised, as they say. We had mandates and restrictions, as public opinion at the time demanded, and people were able to cope much better than in most other countries. Canada was better financially able to help people deal with the pandemic. Nobody starved, and no one enriched themselves, aside from the drug companies. They used the money that we gave them for research and charged a hefty price for the vaccine that we paid to develop. There was also a situation with China and another with the US where we paid and were short-changed, but we prevailed.

Since we had a high rate of vaccination, Canadians did well controlling the sickness that killed so many people around the world. The US had two to three times more deaths per capita higher than us. This would not last. It soon became politicized and viewed as governments trying to take away people’s freedoms. Our premier backed down, saying that the pandemic is over and hospitals filled up again. The medical profession lost more professionals, and we paid more for overtime.

At the beginning of summer, I followed my doctor’s advice instead of my political leaders’ wisdom, wearing a mask, sterilizing, and all but felt social pressure to abandon the practice. People were pushing their hands into mine to shake hands while others insisted on hugging. All the friends and relatives wanted to go for dinners, coffee, and travel places. The feeling was, we were vaccinated, so why worry? It’s nothing but a little cold. People ignored the news that in the US alone, more people still die from COVID each week than those who died on 9/11.

It was the economy against medical caution. Those who have businesses that grow and thrive on recreation, against those who are at higher risk for being harmed by the virus. In a world that is used to instant gratification, people came to an end of tolerance for being careful. After all majority of deaths now were in the older, more vulnerable demographics. Against were airlines, cruise companies, shopping malls, and landing institutions, to name but a few. Last Saturday I tested positive for COVID.

When my mother had a mild heart attack that was fixed by an old doctor who ran at night to save her, it was a different world. We didn’t have the scientific know-how that we have today, but we had honesty and goodwill. Now we have big businesses paying for studies designed to prove that vaccines don’t work and that rules for public health are a sign of tyrannical government. Thousands of little YouTubers with TV cameras and some basic knowledge of computers are competing for advertising money, spewing baseless opinions, and being counted as experts without any qualifications, but we count their voices as “public opinions.”

Sixty years ago, a doctor with a bag of primitive instruments and basic medications could save lives by fighting to save people. Now the fight is for political influence, money, and power. The focus has changed. People want money and power to get more money and power. If they can get it by saving lives, they will or the opposite will do. Values and morality changed.

A tiny killer virus exposed our weakness. We could fight for saving lives and suffer some, or go party it up and pretend that there is no problem. People wait for flights while the pilots and crews are too sick to fly and blame the government, and that is what we did. We blocked commerce demanding no restrictions and now I and others are paying the price. I am in pain writing to you.

A wise man said, your freedom ends at the tip of my nose. Yes, your freedom and all freedom have a price. We worked hard to advance science and in the last few years, so many of us chose not to believe in science when it’s not convenient or profitable. We can consume media that is based on studies that are paid for, not done by the most qualified people we have. It’s a choice that we make.

I watch the world news Monday morning and I am scared. Is the side of “Love your neighbor as yourself” still in the game? Are nuclear missiles or doves flying in?