When Swine Fly

My plane from LAX pulled up to the gate at Tokyo Narita airport. The seat belt light had just been turned off but no one was moving. We had been instructed to sit tight in our seats and complete some health forms. Then a crew of 20-30 fully suited swine-flu spotters made their way down the aisles. Several carried thermal imaging guns to take everyone's temperature. Let it be known that Japan was taking no chances with "The Swine Flu Pandemic!"

A few hours later, I was in Singapore reading the FRONT PAGE headline from The Straights Times, the major English daily from Singapore: Flue Scare For Student Who Returned From Mexico. Here's the lead material:

He's admitted to CDC with running nose but tests show he's clear. An undergraduate who returned to Singapore last Friday from an exchange programme in Mexico caused a scare yesterday, when he woke up with a running nose and was admitted to the Communicable Disease Center (CDC). The fear of a first infected patient here turned out to be a false alarm when laboratory tests showed that Mr. Melvin Yang, 25, had not been infected by any Influenza A virus. Mr. Yang, who had been on self-imposed home quarantine, was not anxious because he thought that his running nose was probably due to his body adjusting back to the environment here. But the third year business student from the Nanyang Technological University decided to play it safe and call 993 for the special ambulance service to ferry him to CDC, where he got his throat swabbed and blood sample taken.

I am trying not to be cynical. It is especially hard now that the swine flu pandemic has turned out to be something of a non-event. But, what a commotion it caused at the time! Can you imagine the expense involved in personnel and equipment for flight screenings at Narita? And when a college kid has the sniffles, it's front page news in Singapore?

What a commentary on our values. We are spring loaded for panic when swine flu can fly, but thoroughly complacent about a greater disease that kills. Yesterday, the Shelby County Commission passed a resolution against job discrimination. Commissioner Steve Mulroy sponsored a provision that would have specifically named gays and lesbians among those protected from discrimination. This provision was dropped and a more generic version passed.

Doing what God prohibits and not doing what God requires (The Bible calls this "sin.") is detrimental to our health. When Adam and Eve sinned, they "infected" all of their progeny, including you and me, with this deadly disease. There is only one cure - the blood of the perfect donor, Jesus. But there is a catch. Not everyone who has the disease can admit it! And it makes no sense for those who do not admit they are sick to seek a cure.

At the County Commission meeting, the validation of a "lifestyle" was driving the agenda. When a lifestyle that is defined by sin is validated, there is less reason for someone to seek a remedy. Wouldn't it be great if our world cared about a cure for sin like we care about swine flu. I am under no delusions about when that day will come - when pigs can fly!

Comments

[AMS]

Oh how I have missed reading your blog and getting that daily glimpse into what is going on in that head of yours! Hope you come back soon!

[Sam]

Because the passenger cabin airflow is compartmentalized into several sections, risk of on-board transmission of infection is mainly restricted to individuals with either close personal contact with an infected and contagious passenger or seated within two rows of a contagious passenger. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the opportunity to select who we are going to be seated next to, so exposure is pure chance.

[Generic Viagra]

Hello
When Adam and Eve sinned, they "infected" all of their progeny, including you and me, with this deadly disease. There is only one cure - the blood of the perfect donor, Jesus.
John B. Barnhart

[Quitting Hair Loss]

Airports are doubtlessly the critical point of this swine flu emergency.