Wussy! H1N1

To say that there is a little bit of swine flu fear mongering going on out there right now would be a glaring understatement, would it not? So it got me thinking… Are we to blame for this?

What do I mean? Well, has our culturing and nuturing of the wussy society made us so soft that the flu now has the ability to kick us in the ass? I think so, but then again I’m biased… After all, not only did I not wash my hands as a child, I survived time aboard an aircraft carrier – perhaps one of the most germ-ridden places the planet has ever known. As such, I don’t often get sick. Or when I do, it comes and goes in a day or two and I’m proud to sport a stronger immune system as a result.

But apparently I am an anomoly in these days of bubble children and anti-bacterial soap in every purse. So again I ask, have we inadvertantly created a population of wussies with allof our germaphobe paranoia and overprotection? Worse yet, have we been testing life – more specifically the idea that life will addapt to survive – and creating super tough mega bugs?

Evolution and genetic mutation is a bitch. If we try and wipe out flu bugs (or any other potential illnesses) by obsessively washing our hands with anti-bacterial soap, vaccinating against things every single year and hiding under our beds every time somebody shows signs of a cough and a fever, what is going to be left? Yes, we will have knocked down the wussier bugs, but what will be left will be real nasty and we will not have the natural defenses in place that big and nasty’s weaker brother may have given us.

Whoops.

Here’s an inconvenient truth… Life will go on, no matter how much we may try to snuff it out… And yes, even the flu bugs are life. Trying to snuff them out just ensures that the weaker strains fail while the real monsters grow stronger.

Yes, I know that the truth is a bitter pill to swallow, but we are to blame for this – and to be honest, if the H1N1 knocks off a bunch of people, it just helps the rest of us grow stronger.