Following Covid-19

Recently I was told I shouldn't think or talk about the pandemic so much, that it wasn't healthy. Let me set the record straight:   

Although I do not have a degree in a specific branch of Science, my mind is research- and scientifically oriented. I'm interested in how the human body works, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Would the person who said my intense interest in COVID-19 wasn't healthy also tell professionals who work in the field of biological sciences that their interest is unhealthy? Of course not!

But me? I'm just an old lady who isn't supposed to know very much as she ages; people seem to think that most of us lose our minds and memories as well as our health as we grow older, or that our brains shrink -- that we're not supposed to know much, and if we do have an opinion on anything, we're supposed to keep our mouths shut. That may be true in some cases, but many of us have kept up with the times and our minds are still sharp, academic degree or no degree. 

I'm self-educated beyond high school: I have no college education, but I do have many years of experience in different fields of interest due to my research as a writer, editor, mother, and grandmother. Libraries, social media, and Google are my friends. If there's something I'm not sure about, I look it up. I am a perpetual student of just about any subject you might throw at me. I'm not a low-I.Q. dope; far from it. 

I've lived through such dangerous pandemics as smallpox and polio. If I hadn't had my children vaccinated when important vaccines came along, they may not have survived, or they may have grown up familiar with iron lungs and leg braces.

What does all this have to do with the COVID-19 pandemic? It has everything to do with it. As a human being who cares about mankind in general, how they live, what makes them healthy or sick, it's my god-given duty to share information pertaining to how the pandemic is developing in our lives. If I've learned what the safeguards are for keeping healthy and safe, I'm absolutely entitled to inform those who haven't learned these things . . . and also those who refuse to open their eyes and minds to the danger of ignoring sensible rules and suggestions for staying well and avoiding the viruses. It's heartbreaking to see so many people disregarding  the guidelines (and much of it is political). The Mother Hen in me says, "Do something!" But while I cannot make the viruses disappear, I can and will pass on the latest news as it becomes available. And if that's unhealthy, so be it.

Our country is about to embark on its third year of a dangerous pandemic, and this calls for getting out the word -- pounding it into stubborn heads! -- about masking, social distancing, vaccination, and other measures to help us fight the virus and its various mutants.

So it's not healthy for me to want to help my fellow humans? It would be mentally unhealthy and selfish if I would not or could not follow my heart. 

Peace and good health!