The virus variants affect us all, and our lives hang in the balance
Growing up in the murky world of thoroughbred racing on the East Coast, I learned a lot about life and people and how to make “luck.” I learned that the jockeys, the trainers, the grooms, and those who worked on the backstretch who had durable careers were paranoid about their lives around horses and knew that in a heartbeat, they could become paralyzed or killed by the swift kick of an animal that weighs a thousand pounds and has been programmed for 300 years to run through a brick wall at 40 miles per hour.
I also learned that compassion and “constructive criticism” of the jockey or the care of a horse by the groom was not the way the world worked back then at that time in history. I vividly recall trainers and agents such as my father using colorful hyphenated language in criticizing how a horse was ridden.
With eyes bulging and neck veins about to explode, my father would go face-to-face with the rider and scream at him about his race performance, “Do I have to draw you a picture? You keep this up and none of us will ever eat.”
Our lives hang in the balance
What does this horrifying image from my childhood have to do with the current state of COVID-19? Well, it has a lot to do with the pandemic, and our lives hang in the balance.
The omicron mutation is doubling every 24 to 48 hours. The mutation is circling the globe at a blistering pace. How serious this mutation is (or others), we simply don’t know. I don’t have to scream in your face or draw you a picture. The charts, graphs, headlines, and number of deaths tell us the seriousness of this new variant. Do the arithmetic.
Over the course of a few days or a few weeks, it is hardly surprising, that this pandemic will ensnare the world—again. We can console ourselves by the thought that if we are fully vaccinated and have the booster shot and if we do become ill it’s unlikely that we will die and it’s unlikely that we will be hospitalized or spread the virus to others. I personally take a little consolation with this sort of wishful thinking.
So, what do we do as we sit on the precipice of Armageddon just as we did last year when the delta version ran amok and shredded the world as we knew it?
Dance with the one that brung you
Every coach when questioned about the strategy for the Super Bowl or the championship game has the same sort of response: “We dance with the one that brung us.” In other words, in clear language, we go back to the basics, we go back to the fundamentals of our game. We do not use gimmicks; we just go back to the fundamentals. We will control what we can, and we will not become distracted by the weather, the referees, the point spreads, or who is injured.
We better be street smart or there will be nobody left to turn off the lights.
“Do I have to draw you a picture?”
Wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, regardless whether we are inside or outside.
Get fully vaccinated and that means get in line for that booster shot because right now this is the only potential antidote to jump start our immune system to nullify getting dreadfully ill.
Social distancing. Stay away from people. I don’t want to see any more Santa pictures with Santa at the mall and children unmasked. Just don’t risk it. Send a text message or an email to Santa.
Liberally use hand sanitizer. Carry a travel bottle in your pocket. I have one in my car in the driver’s side door. Every time I get back in the car, I use it.
Bottom line: Although the COVID disaster reads like science fiction, our alternate universe is quite real. Stick around so we can read the last chapter and say goodbye to this nightmare together.
From Wix Media.