Don’t Let It Dominate Your Life

Don’t be afraid of one another

Epidemics and Pandemics have been plaguing the globe (pun intended) throughout recorded history. Scientists have even dug up some from pre-history. For example, The Great Dinosaur Killer Plague of 65,002,020, B.C. 19 (Before COVID-19).

The word epidemic comes from the root words epi, the Greek word for “upon,” and the Latin demontic which means “democrat.” And Pandemic — from the Greek Pan (“all y’all”) and demontic (“democrat”). So, clearly, the words’ literal translations are “Upon Democrats” and “All y’all Democrats,” respectively. This tells me that the Democrats are responsible for pandemics. In the interest of equal time, Republicans have caused their share of world chaos, too. Consider the etymology of words like Reprobate — “Republican lawyers.” Reprehensible — “Republicans not yet apprehended.” Reported — “Republicans who’ve been deported.” Reptilian — Republicans who are snakes. I could go on and on with both parties, but it gets nasty.

A disclaimer:

Seriously, folks, in no way do I mean to make light of the COVID-19 pandemic nor do I want to be insensitive. It is a dangerous and deadly disease. Along with all decent human beings, I mourn the death it has caused, and believe it should never have happened. I believe the expatriate Chinese virologist, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who says a Chinese military lab (controlled by the CCP) genetically engineered the virus and deliberately released it. My intent with this piece is to insert a little levity into an otherwise sad world situation. Not the only sad world situation, I might add.

Here’s a look at some — not all — of Earth’s historic pandemics.

Peloponnesian War Pestilence of 430 BCE

The oldest documented pandemic is the Peloponnesian War Pestilence. This guy Thucydides (pronounced Thuckie Diddies), who was an ancient Greek historian and part-time ancient Rap artist, wrote about it in one of his books. For those of you who slept through this part of your World History class, the Peloponnesian War was a Greek contest held in the South Pacific between the Athens Philosophers and the Sparta Spartans. Sparta won 38–24. It was a dirty war, hence the pestilence during it. Thuckie estimated about 100,000 people died from the pandemic, which doesn’t sound like a lot as pandemics go until you consider that the world population then was only about 120,000. So, I guess you could say, Thuckie was lucky.

Antonine Plague, 165–180 AD

They named this pandemic after the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and took place during his time in office. Historians believed Smallpox caused it brought back by Roman soldiers from a Near East campaign. It killed 5 million and claimed the lives of one-third of the Roman population. Those who didn’t like Marcus Aurelius blamed him for the pandemic, saying it could’ve been avoided if he’d planned better. Many peaceful protests and fire bombings where held by a group who called themselves Romanus Liveus Matteronium.

The Black Death, 1348 AD

This pandemic (a.k.a. the Bubonic Plague by the 14th Century PC police) raged across Europe and the world. The estimated death toll was seventy-five million, about 25% of the world population. Many people lost their jobs, and the economy was a wreck, although there was a big up-tick in the burial industry.

Spanish Flu, 1918

No one knows for sure why this pandemic was called the Spanish Flu, because it affected people of many languages all over the world, not just Spanish. It infected over 500 million and has an estimated death toll as high as 100 million. The Spanish Flu virus was airborne and thought to be carried across lands by thunderstorms. But the rain in Spain fell mainly in the plains, which weren’t densely populated.

My point is, what we are going through right now is kinda bad, but it could be a lot worse. Personally, I think we’re past the worst. Plagues like these linger for a year or two, but thankfully we’re not living in the Middle Ages. Despite the waffling on what we should and shouldn’t do, non-political medical science is making great strides to eradicate this disease. One news source (FoxNews) reported that thirty medical articles had been retracted from journals because of bad science and misinformation.

So, I go along with President Trump when he says, “Don’t let it [Coronavirus] dominate your life.” I would amend that statement to say, “Don’t let THEM dominate your life,” them being those politicians and their media minions whose cacophony and bloviating would have you believe you will die if you don’t restrict your life according to their rules. We still remain a free people in the United States unless we succumb to their tactics of fear, intimidation, and coercion.

Here are some real data from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control:

Recovery rates for COVID-19 by age:

Ages 0–19: 99.97% recover

Ages 20–49: 99.98% recover

Ages 50–69: 99.5% recover

Ages 70+: 95% recover

It’s highly likely you will recover from this viral attack if you contract it. We need to come out of hiding and start bringing our country all the way back to full bloom. We are Americans, not sheep.

Illegitimi non carborundum

Is a mock-Latin aphorism which came out of World War II. Its meaning fits the current state: — “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

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© 2020 by Phil Truman. All rights reserved.