Life In A Flu Pandemic

Imagine the bird flu pandemic happened. What would everyday life be like?

Well, for one thing, a pervading sense of fear would descend on most people. Most of us would be afraid to go to public places. Shopping, eating out, church going, using public transportation, going to school or work would suddenly change from routine activities to high risk, best to be avoided undertakings. To say nothing about going to the doctor...

At night we would dream of living in isolated bubbles and during the day we would wear masks and keep as long a distance from others as possible. We'd suddenly become experts in recognizing the signs of respiratory infections.

Imagine the impact on family life. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, panic was so strong that, according to historian John Barry, author of The Great Influenza, "close blood relatives were so frightened that they would not feed a family where people were starving to death".

This May 29, 1919 photograph shows rows of tents that had been set up on a lawn
at Emery Hill in Lawrence, Massachusetts where victims of the 1918 influenza
pandemic were treated.

One can wonder how would people react today in a flu pandemic... Would we be more capable of humanistic gestures today?

I have my doubts... Humans have not changed in the last century too much. The instinct of self-preservation is too strong in the majority of us... Unless you have experienced the true love Jesus talked about:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

The Avian Flu Doc