The Main Thing is not to Panic...

Are you as sick as I am of hearing about the swine flu? I usually watch the news every day, but I'm getting tired of H1N1 being headline news every night! I want to hear about something else people! I would even rather start hearing about America's health care reform again! Wow...I must be desperate - I never thought I wanted to hear about that again!

Although, some of the news about H1N1 is starting to make me laugh. A couple of days ago I was watching CTV News, and they reported that clinics were giving numbered bracelets to the people in line for the vaccine that needed to have the shot the most - the ones who are more at risk of contracting H1N1. The part that made me laugh was that people are actually scalping their bracelets! So panic has given way to money...isn't that always the way. Don't get any ideas though - health care workers say they will personally put the bracelet on for you if you are at risk of the virus, especially if you have brought your children to get the vaccine.

Does anyone remember SARS? It was only a few years ago, and everyone was in a panic over it, then it all died down, and now no one ever talks about it anymore. I can't help but think that the swine flu will eventually go away, then we will forget about it, just like SARS.

Why do we work ourselves into a panic over things like this? Does no one understand that worrying and being anxious doesn't help? Does this sound familiar to anyone - "Who among you can add a single day to his life by worrying?" Can worrying stop your child from getting sick? If you panic, will it make the line up at the clinic move faster? If you develop an ulcer will you and your family live longer? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Yet, this is how we live. Not worrying doesn't mean that you don't care or aren't concerned about things - it just means that you know worrying is not going to help the situation. It means that you are rational.

I can't believe I missed so many days of blogging last month. I had forgotten how great it is to be able to voice my opinions about stuff like this without having anyone to argue with me. Although, sometimes I would welcome an opposing opinion...it adds spice to life! Get a blog people! It feels great!

New Post!!!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since September the 9th! Life has been little crazy lately. but then, life is always crazy, so I guess I can't really use that as an excuse, now can I? Oh well, it's my blog, and its free, so no one can complain! ;) Ever notice how many times people do complain about stuff that they don't have to pay for? Ridiculous, isn't it...

While we are on the topic of things you have noticed, have you ever noticed how life seems to be all about waiting? It seems like we spend our whole lives waiting for things. We wait in line, we wait to get older (only when we are young, of course!) and we wait for things to happen. Sometimes we spend whole days wishing we were in next week or next month already.

Remember the story about the man who was given a spool of magical thread? All he had to do when he wanted to go to the future was pull the thread. If he pulled it out a little bit, he would skip a few hours or days, and if he pulled it a lot he could skip weeks, months or even years. So, every time he got impatient about something, he would pull the thread. For example, he couldn't wait for his daughter to be born, so he pulled the thread and skipped forward 9 months. He kept doing this all throughout his life, and when he came to end of his life, he realized that he had missed most of his life because he skipped over all of the waiting.

Instead of being impatient when you have to wait for something, try enjoying the wait. Waiting is a part of life, and here in North America, our culture hates waiting. They say that you can always tell when a North American is in a line up somewhere in Africa or the Caribbean. Line ups can go on for hours in these countries because the people don't mind waiting - they have all the patience in the world. Meanwhile, someone from North America gets in line and acts all jittery, sighing and fidgeting with impatience, and you can almost see the ulcer forming as he waits!