When I came down with a bit of a cold about a month ago, I didn’t think anything of it. After all, the change of seasons combined with a period of higher stress at work could quite easily lead to some minor sickness. I got better and, although I still have a nagging cough, I attributed it to the winter-time chill and promptly forgot about it. Then, this morning, I read:
South Korea on Tuesday confirmed a second outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, after saying on Saturday it had its first outbreak for three years of the strain that is potentially deadly to humans.
The agriculture ministry said the second bird-flu outbreak killed about 200 chickens at a farm 3 km from where the first case had been found in North Cholla province, southwest of Seoul. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/11/28/skorea.birdflu.reut/index.html
At first, I was in shock. Now, I’m terrified. What will I do? Maybe the paycheck isn’t worth it after all–how can anyone afford to pay the opportunity cost of nuclear vaporization compounded with the deadly risks of force-fed-chicken breath? Is this what an education for liberty has brought me to?
Consider the death toll since 2003. If the disease keeps spreading at the current rate, in three years the total number of deaths will rival the number of people who drown in bathtubs every year: a 1 in 40,000,000 chance where each breath–each cough–could be my last.
Appreciate me while I’m here, world.
January 8, 2007 at 5:23 am |
You are appreciated.