Flu

I posted on my kindergarten blog that it is too quiet in my classroom these days. Between the empty chairs and the empty minds there is just very little energy left in our room. The two or three students who have returned are still too tired and weak to think or talk much. Those who are getting sick are too tired and weak to think or talk much. Those who have remained well are worried about the others. One came to my desk yesterday and said “A sure has been gone a long time.” Yes…he has.

There are also teachers absent from our ranks- some who are ill and some who have children who are too sick to be left with others. I pray for them, especially the ones with sick children, because I still remember the frustration of wanting so desperately to ease the pain and suffering of an ailing child.

Yesterday I reluctantly stopped by the pharmacy to pick up a refill of my blood pressure medicine. As expected there was a line of people, many of whom were coughing; all of them waiting for something to make them feel better. An old friend was there seeking a flu shot, but the pharmacy had run out and posted a sign.  We joked about it, but I hope she finds one somewhere. Some protection is better than none.

When I got home there were more reports about outbreaks and deaths all over the country. Even California, previously listed as almost flu-free, has seen an increase in cases. Hospitals and clinics are understaffed and are doing their best to cope with record numbers of patients.

While all of this is disheartening we are still so fortunate to have vaccines and medications and modern hospitals prepared to care for flu victims. It is best to keep everything in perspective and to be thankful for the great strides we have made since the pandemics of the past, especially the Spanish flu of 1918. That seems so very long ago, but its impact was worldwide and it wiped out an estimated 2% of the population. That’s 20-50 million people. It was never possible to take a completely accurate count. And I know from reading the Caddo Herald that many of those who died were my ancestors and yours.    

So although we may be suffering we can also have a little gratitude and say a prayer of thanksgiving today along with our supplications. This too shall pass...

 

Comments

[Classof65]

Both my paternal grandpa and my maternal grandpa lost their first wives in 1918 to the flu. And one of my great-uncles was in the Army then and died from the flu.

Both of my grandpas remarried and their 2nd wives were the grandmas I grew up with since I wasn't born until 1948.

[mary]

It would be interesting, and quite sad, to know the final death count for Caddo and vicinity for the years from 1918-1920.

[Megan]

Loss on that scale is hard to imagine. Today's global world will be crushed. I hope to never experience that.