Dearest Readers,
The monster is inside the gate. Ebola. How did it get inside the United States? That's easy. We left the gate wide open. We have left all the gates wide open. When you go to bed at night do you lock the front door? Of course. You wouldn't think of leaving it open would you? Of course not. Well, all the doors and all the windows of the United States of America have been left open while we have been in bed asleep. While we were sleeping millions and millions of people have illegally come on in! Now are you awake???
In 1990 my husband Walker and I adopted twin baby girls from the country of Honduras. That was back when there were still rules. That was back when our elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, cared about the health and safety of the citizens of the United States of America. Back then we actually had to prove that our babies were healthy before we could fly back to the United States. Tuberculosis was still active in Honduras. Our babies had to be vaccinated for TB. I didn't complain. I was not offended. It seemed like common sense to me. I had no desire to bring TB back into my homeland. Boy have times changed!
Let's take a look back in time to 1918. That was the last year of World War One. In Philadelphia, people were coming down with a strange sickness. It seemed that it was "just influenza". But, this was no ordinary influenza. It turned its victims black. They bled out of their noses, eyes, mouths.... It killed fast. Very fast. It killed mostly young, strong, healthy people between twenty and forty years of age. The dead in Philadelphia piled up like stiff dry cord wood on front porches while mass graves were dug. The city officials played it down! Imagine that! They didn't want people to worry. The health care officials wanted to get the word out that this was something horrible, something dangerous... they were shushed....
The World War continued. Health officials warned AGAINST our infected soldiers being sent to Europe. The politicians ignored them. The president, Woodrow Wilson, allowed the boys to be sent on over the water.... sick boys. But, after all it was just influenza.... The influenza was spread by unrestricted travel. Stupid politicians that knew nothing about health issues allowed the flu to spread by UNRESTRICTED TRAVEL. They were concerned about winning World War One. Guess what? The great influenza killed many more people than the war. A staggering one hundred million people globally died in one year. Whole groups of native peoples were completely wiped out all over the world. An estimated 650,000 Americans died in one year. President Wilson came down with the influenza. His wife ran the country while he was sick. She kept his illness secret while she took over his job. Scary stuff.
Now there is another monster inside our gate. Ebola. How are we going to stop it? Stop thinking of yourself as a liberal or conservative. Get over it! Stop thinking of yourself as gay or straight. Get over it! Stop thinking of yourself as white, black, Asian, Hispanic etc. GET OVER IT!!! Ebola is over it. Ebola doesn't care about any of those things. It will infect you no matter what color you are. It will infect you no matter how much money you have or haven't got. It will infect you gay or straight. It will infect whether you are a Republican or Democrat!!! You are nothing but a host to feed on to this disease. So we have to throw all our petty differences aside and all get back to being AMERICANS.
Now how are we going to respond to Tom Friedan, Director of the Centers For Disease Control? He says that restricting travel between the United States and West Africa, where Ebola is coming from, would most likely "backfire" and put America at more risk of contracting Ebola. His reasoning is that Ebola needs to be wiped out at the source, in Africa. Restricting Americans from going to West Africa would restrict getting help to the sick in Africa, which would allow it to spread more rapidly.
I understand his reasoning- to a point. If there are Americans who want to go help with medical assistance in Africa, they will at some point want to come home, and there is nothing wrong with requiring that those people be quarantined for the recommended twenty one day period (or longer) before they are allowed to come back into the United States. Visitors from the infected countries, though, are a different matter completely and should not be allowed in at their own pleasure. That is not asking too much Mr. Friedan!!! The CDC is not supposed to be worried about hurting anybody's feelings!!! The CDC is supposed to be protecting the people of the United States of America!!! People of all colors, politics, sexual orientation, education etc. will die in this country if travel is not restricted. NOBODY needs to be allowed into the United States from West Africa unless they have been held in quarantine for twenty-one days, or more if needed.
What blows my mind is that in1918 the health officials were screaming for limited travel, and that was before air travel. Now in 2014, with the example of the great influenza pandemic to use as a BAD example our major health official Tom Friedan says NOT to restrict travel!!! What is wrong with this picture??? With no air travel in existence in 1918, we had a global pandemic that killed 100,000,000 people. Now what will happen with unrestricted air travel???
Ebola is spread by blood, semen, vomit, feces, saliva, tears and SWEAT. When you go to the gym tomorrow make sure that sweat soaked towel you pick up and wipe your face with is your own. I hope it wasn't dropped by someone who just got back from West Africa. Think about it my fellow Americans....
Please forward this blog site
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7253354042404414819#editor/target=post;postID=2556270141285380936
on to all your contacts. Call your elected representatives! Call the CDC! Let's all stand together and stop the spread of this disease.
Love, Suzan
