Is Everybody In My Life Bananas Or What?

Is Everybody In My Life Bananas Or What?

Well, here I am sitting around in the rain, wondering if I am going crazy or is most of the people in the USA are going crazy instead.

I’ve been thinking about a trip to the USA, i=on relatively short notice.  If it was not the year of the “Big Virus”, I might already be in Florida where several members of our family live and where I even have a lovely two or three-bedroom house at my disposal (it’s owned by another family member who lives far away, up in the northeast, and she and her husband don’t get to go to Florida nearly as often as they want to.

Should I Ride To The Rescue?

If it were a normal year, as I said, I might already be in Florida, escaping the constant rain and depression which always bothers me a lot during the rainy season here in Luzon.

But of course, it isn’t a “normal” year is tt?  In fact, I only just got released from a very strict lockdown, and things are slowly starting to trend back to normal here.  But I could travel, permission-wise that is.

Why The Rescue Question?

Well just yesterday I just got word that there’s a minor problem with the house I would be staying at.  It’s nothing major structurally or anything like that.  It’s a small problem I could deal with easily in a couple of days if I were there, and I’d feel like less of a “mooch”, “borrowing someone’s house” just because they are stuck more than a thousand miles away and can’t get there to deal with it themselves.

So what are You Wating On, Dave, What’s Making You Hesitate?

I looked up flights last month.  There’s no problem, a number of choices available, all reasonably (for the current situation) priced.  Every day is a day off for me, and my income flows directly to my US credit union account, so there isn’t much difference at all in my life wherever I choose to live.  Why not just get on a plane tonight and fly to Florida and deal with that minor problem?

Because I’m Scared, That’s Why.

As my hero and mentor, Tony Soprano was once heard to mutter … amazed by a bunch of things going on which mystified him … “Is everyone in my life bananas or what”?

Does this look safe to you?

This is the nation-wide rate of growth of new COVID 19 cases every day.  Scary.  As of the time I am writing this, the total US deaths stand at just 6 unfortunate souls less than 113,000.  Think about that for a moment.  Way more than twice the death toll of the Vietnam War.  And climbing, climbing, climbing every day like an investor wishes the stock market would do.

That’s the part that really scares me … the deaths that have already happened,well, sad and unfortunate but they’ve happened.  But more and more new deaths every day with no end in sight?  Isane.  Bananas, as Tony would say.

Here’s how things look in Florida. where I would be going.

If you were an Infantry officer, would you want to march your troops into that?

I’m happily sitting here in a “third-world” country.  The sort of country Mr. Trump refers to as a “shithole” country. (because it’s not run by white people, I suppose).

The Philippines has about 32% of the US population (a bit over 1 million people). One might expect then that the Philippine death toll would be somewhat close to one-third of the US death toll.  Maybe even more since so many things here are not up to “Western” standards.

Want to guess what the current Philippine COVID 19 death toll is?

Mathematically it ought to come out around 36,000 or so.  Actually, at the same time the US is only a few deaths away from 113,000, the Philippines stands at 1027!

Why so low?  Mainly because the government has taken the pandemic seriously here.  People stay home when told to (not “asked” to).  People wear masks in public because it is proven to save lives.  When someone tests positive, their house and the two on each side plus the three neighbors across the street are roped off, and no one goes in and out.

Local government employees do food shopping for those under quarantine and leave the food on a table at the perimeter.  No contact with the outside world and thus no spreading.

Look At The Numbers.  It worked And It Saves Lives

I look at videos from the USA every day.  Thousands of protestors in the streets no masks.  People going to the beach, or to garage sales and the like, no masks, no hand sanitizers.  Thousands of people attending funerals where the deceased has tested positive for CVID 19.

Contagion, people.  Danger.  Most of you reading this have at least graduated from high school.  Many have advanced degrees.  Did you not learn ANYTHING?”

Sorry, America, my heart hurts because I want to go but I just can’t.  It’s just too bananas for me.  Too many total idiots taking no precautions at all, while the curve just climbs and climbs.

I’ll pray for you all.  Enjoy your “right” to get infected and to infect others.

Is Everybody In My Life Bananas Or What?