MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

. . . . . . there is no edge to openness

TODAY'S MUSINGS

FEEDBACK / COMMENTS

MARK SPEAKS

ARCHIVED COLUMNS

ARCHIVE WINTER 2022-23

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2022

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2022

ARCHIVE SPRING 2022

ARCHIVE WINTER 2021-22

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2021

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2021

ARCHIVE SPRING 2021

ARCHIVE WINTER 2020-21

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2020

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2020

ARCHIVE SPRING 2020

ARCHIVE WINTER 2019-20

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2019

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2019

ARCHIVE SPRING 2019

ARCHIVE WINTER 2018-19

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2018

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2018

ARCHIVE SPRING 2018

ARCHIVE WINTER 2017-18

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2017

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2017

ARCHIVE SPRING 2017

ARCHIVE WINTER 2016/17

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2016

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2016

ARCHIVE SPRING 2016

ARCHIVE WINTER 2015/16

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2015

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2015

ARCHIVE SPRING 2015

ARCHIVE WINTER 2014/15

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2014

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2014

ARCHIVE SPRING 2014

ARCHIVE WINTER 2013/14

CONTACT

MY REAL ESTATE LIFE

WHY I WRITE MUSINGS

SHORT STORY PROJECT

POETRY PROJECT

MARK'S SPEAKING TIPS

SELECTED OTHER WORK

WEAPONS OF MASS DREAD (WMD)
Saturday, May 16, 2020
 
We can mitigate risk without being swept away by floods or overwhelmed by wildfires. 
 
We MUST stand aside from oncoming traffic, whether that traffic is a disease, warfare, or dis-information warfare. We must fight and defend when we have to, run when we have to, speak up, and speak out when we have to and be adaptable.
 
Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a term we learned in recent years. Takes on new meaning now – not about the military/industrial complex, not about missiles, bullets, or bombs; it’s the new-normal fear.
 
Better said, our new-normal.
 
Get used to – not fear so much, but to adapt and cope with new-norm-ness.
 
A few years ago, I learned this phrase:
 
“Living with my virus.” It isn’t only people in the HIV/Aids world – it’s everyone with a virus, a compromised immune system – Hepatitis, Herpes, Hantavirus, Shingles, etc. We don’t even wince at having the chicken-pox or measles virus in us.
 
Through immunization and wise practices, we’ve become immune to thinking much about smallpox, polio, rabies, etc. because we believe we won’t have to worry about them. Once MERS, Ebola, Rotavirus, and SARS are no longer on the front page, they fade from consciousness.
 
What about Dengue, Malaria?
 
What about common influenza?
 
People get the shot, trust the health care system, and carry on.
 
People who have these diseases learn to live with them. Most get through, live on, take a pill, moderate their behavior – adjust to ‘living with their virus,’ and they ‘live with their disease.
 
Now we are faced with lifestyle choices to make to avoid contact with the COVID-19 virus. Can we prevent it, delay it, or simply cope with it when it shows up – do we get sick, die, or get lucky?
 
Living in fear for any extended time seems crazy; we need to get through it, get over it, and get beyond it. That’s in our head. But threats are no less real if we get used to them.
But who is our captor – COVID-19, Trump, the news-cycle, the ever-flattening curve, or our own brain?
 
We tolerate the risk of many perils all the time.  We risk a fire in our homes and businesses – the safer our building materials and lifestyle, the lower the risk. The closer to the fire hall, the lower our cost of insurance.
 
Crime is risk mitigated by prudence, good lighting, good laws, and good law enforcement – none of which stop crime, criminals, or the likelihood we’ll be hurt, robbed, killed, or have property stolen.
 
What criminals or mad-professors cannot do, in real life or fiction, is take our dignity, our self-control, or our safety away, unless we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We cannot stop disease, accident, villain, or nature – however, we can be calm, thoughtful, careful, and proactive.
 
We can feel the anxiety without suffering paralysis.
 
COVID-19 is not reinventing earth; instead, forcing our species to reinvent ourselves – our learning curve is steep in every country, in every language, learning to live with our virus, and we carry on anyway.
 
Survival?
 
Those who are most adaptable.
 
 
Reader feedback:
IS SURVIVAL GETTING IN THE WAY OF YOUR LIFE?
You have your reader waiting for “the rest of the story”, RH, Calgary, AB



Find this and other articles by Mark Kolke at Medium



sign up to get Musings free daily



 
Read more of my writing by Mark Kolke at Medium

sign up to get Musings free daily

 


 
Mark Kolke, Realtor, MaxWell Capital Realty


sign up to get Musings CLICK HERE

Comments are always welcome - please contribute to the discussion.  Reply to: kolke@markkolke.com

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. This site is updated daily, each column is retained in the archive when the next day's column is loaded ...  


Copyright - all rights reserved - Mark Kolke, © 2003-2023 - MaxComm Communications

- this site is updated daily, new column on main page, older columns archived - use the tabs; last update - 2023 - January, 28