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I'm writing this today, but it really takes place last Monday evening. (Today being Wednesday.)
In a nearby town about 45 min away is where some of my wife's family lives. Some of them run a small coffee shop that is closing (now closed) because of landlord of the large commercial building doesn't want a coffee shop there. Probably have other use ideas for the floor space more profitable than the lease money they earn now. Nobody knows for sure.
For the last three Sunday's some of us have gone there because it would soon be gone. On the first two Sunday's my wife and I went. Wore masks. Social distance. Etc.
On the first Sunday. One of the relatives, who is my friend, introduced me to his older brother. (we're all old men, fyi) After talking a bit, we fist-bumped instead of shaking hands as we parted.
On the 2nd Sunday. Nothing eventful. Talked with a few people including my friend whose brother I met the week prior. Didn't see the brother I met the week prior.
On the 3rd Sunday we didn't go because covid cases were on the increase in the local area. Sad because that was the final day the shop would be open. But hey we're now used to spending holidays alone in our house. Very sad. But no covid.
Next day, which brings me to last Monday evening. I get word through my wife that the person (the brother of a family member friend) I had met two weeks and a day ago has died from covid-19.
My first reaction was: WOW That was fast! I just met the guy. He seemed careful enough. (of course, I don't know vax status and don't ask unless people are coming into my home)
Second reaction between my wife and I were that if we had been exposed we would probably have symptoms by now. Of course, no symptoms as of the day I'm writing this. We rarely go out of our house. We even have groceries delivered to our door. Do Target pick up orders that get loaded into the vehicle trunk, etc. Amazon deliveries. Etc. (I do go to a deserted office every day because quiet and well lit.)
Some thoughts.
In the past I had posted that 1 in 500 Americans have died of covid-19. I know it is a joke to some people here.
Recently I googled and recalculated it to be 1 in 412 and posted that here.
As the numbers of dead go up and up, we will arrive at 1 in 400. Eventually 1 in 350. Etc.
The numbers don't lie. They are not fake news. They are statistics. And they represent real people who died of covid-19. The reasons don't matter so much.
Eventually everyone will know of someone within some small number of proximate connections who will (or has already) died from covid-19.
Once again, just to keep beating a dead horse: it is not vaccinated people who are filling up hospitals and taking up all the ICU beds. Wearing a mask is to protect other people more than yourself. Social distancing protects you both.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 24 2021, @06:28PM
You say many of these things as if they are self-evident. They are not and require justification, such as the internally inconsistent nature of the situation I described.
How carefully have you read the creation account in Genesis? The first few verses of the first chapter might explain the existence of evil.
Those verses don't say that God created something from nothing. It's quite the opposite, in fact. Genesis says that in the beginning, the Earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters. Again, by Earth, it doesn't mean the planet, but the universe. But it doesn't say that God spontaneously brought it into existence. Genesis implies that the universe already existed and that God was modifying it like a sculptor molding a formless blob of clay. The language of the first few verses, with words like darkness and abyss, are words that could be used to describe a state of evil. When God said let there be light, God said that the light was good and separated it from the darkness. Again, it could be viewed as a distinction between good and evil. Notably, God said the light was good, but did not say that of the darkness.
The creation account in Genesis does not say that God created something from nothing. Instead, it describes transforming something that already existed, or at least part of what already existed. A careful reading of the creation story implies that the evil may have always been there, not spontaneously arising from good or being created by God.
In some respects, that's a bit of an allegory for the nature of humanity. At our core, we have visceral urges, the desire to satisfy our basic needs perhaps by any means necessary, and rage and violent tendencies lurking. It's not to say there is nothing good, because many people do find intrinsic value in doing kind works. But none of that eliminates the rage and the animal instincts that exist within all humans. We learn to suppress those darker tendencies and hide them with a veneer of civility that is frighteningly thin.
We can try to suppress part of our nature, to hide it whether insincerely or genuinely, and to mold ourselves into something that is better than the evil that lurks in all of us. Some of us succeed to a degree, masking the more visceral and evil tendencies within each of us, but they never fully go away. Given the opportunity, they will readily surface and displace the thin veneer of decency. Frankly, some of us don't even bother trying, which is how you get posts like what started this thread. It's a thin line between order and chaos, a line that must be continually reinforced or it will rapidly break down. We lack the ability to change our nature but we can choose not to commit evil today.
I know, I've gone way off-topic. Be well. Have a wonderful holiday.