When Pigs Flu

Ahh Spring...the grass is greener, the air is warmer and there is a refreshing sense that world keeps turning. For thousands of years we've endured, war, famine, storms, and lived to tell. The difference between then and now however, is the harmless beast we know today as the media. When the plague hit Europe in the 1300s there was a mass hysteria of rumor and speculation about armageddon. Throughout towns and churches, people told of the terrible darkness that was descending upon the land. Today, we don't really go downtown (or to Church for that matter) and we have oodles of new medical information and still mass hysteria is upon us – this week, it’s the swine flu, or as the Mexican’s like us to say, the H1N1 virus. Thanks to the monster known as the media, we no longer have to wait for our neighbor to tell of us of the impending doom, we have CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and the 100 other 24 hour news stations to keep us well informed of the spread of this not so deadly disease. Seven hundred years later and we still have problems with misinformation and rumor complicating our understanding of what is really happening.

Pandemic – (adj.) – occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population. (Merriam Webster Online).

The CDC has announced the pandemic level has been raised to “phase 6” – but I think somehow people are confusing this with the Department of Homeland Security’s highly effective “threat level” scale. Phase 6 being, Osama bin Laden just landed at JFK.

A simple, “why has the pork industry insisted we refer to the swine flu as the H1N1 virus” question and discussion helps the freshmen to believe that yes, in fact, in the Middle Ages they really did believe the Plague was sent by evil spirits.

“So why is the death toll rising in Mexico,” those curious Easton and Redding students ask.

“Why did the death toll in monasteries and among priests rise when the Plague hit and why did the Jewish population fair better?”

“Priests performed last rites for the dying and monks lived in close quarters in monasteries making the disease spread more quickly.”

Then we look at the population density of Mexico compared to the US. Pop/square km in Mexico is 53. US is 31.

“That’s not THAT big a difference,” says Johnny Paininmyass.

“So what about the Jews? Why were they able to better survive the Plague?”

“They were spread out all over Europe,” Johnny persists, “but I still don’t see how this explains why Mexicans are dying and people in the US are not. I think either our government is lying or we really should be panicking.”

Finally, my studious Jewish student speaks up. “The Jews were spread out but they also had better hygiene. The Torah says you must wash your hands before every meal.”

“So?”

At this point most of the class gets that the US has better health care standards and puts Mr. Painintheass in his place. I love it when they do it for me.

Yet again, the headlines have helped to bring the age old adage some relevance. History does repeat itself. So…like Johnny says, “why bother learning about this stuff then.”

Right, why bother? Let’s just close all the schools and air them out a bit. This will surely save us from the deadly pandemic, keep the world turning and pigs from flying.

Good Fridays

Since every Friday is good, today should be called Great Friday. Or even better, The Greatest Friday. Because really, for the Christians it is the greatest Friday. That is, if one is to believe that Jesus died on an actual Friday. Of course, being a history teacher has slightly altered my view of religion starting with the fact that with all of the adjustments to our modern calendar over the year, there’s really know way to tell if Jesus actually died on a Friday. Not to mention that it is now widely accepted that Jesus was actually born somewhere between the year 4 and 6. (But don’t worry dad, this isn’t the part when I say I’ve denounced all religion and become atheist or agnostic.)

In a public school system, we have to take the faith part out and just give the facts as well as we can piece them together. And when you are only looking at the facts, you realize no matter what religion you believe in, they all rely heavily on nothing more than faith itself. In World Geography, we talk about Hinduism. The kids always get a kick out of the stories of Gods with multiple heads and animal features. They read the story about how Brahma grew four heads because he was infatuated with a women and is now able to see in all directions. Inevitably the class asks, “they really believe that?”

And then I remind them of the part human/part divine man named Jesus who walked on water, changed water into wine, cured many afflicted with incurable diseases and rose from the dead. Is this any more believable? (You should see their heads spin when they learn the Muslims, Christians and Jews all have the same foundation of belief – the stories of the Old Testament.)

And all of these religions claim they advocate peace and loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek and yet we are all still killing each other insisting our ridiculous stories are the “truth.” But really, what does it matter? In the year 2009, when we’re supposed to have answers from science and history, we’re still asking the same questions.

I know what I believe. And you know what you believe and can’t that be enough? My God says it is.