Archive for April, 2009

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swine

My mom and I were laughing the other day at the vague-ness of the swine flu symtoms.  According to the Wikipedia article:

Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. The 2009 outbreak has shown an increased percentage of patients reporting diarrhea and vomiting.

Of course, with this cold, I have had a sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue.  So I’m only three symtoms away from full blown swine flu!  Nevermind that I’ve never been to Mexico and no one I know has visited Mexico recently!

He’s been identified.  And I feel bad for him.

I know there are plenty of people out there who are angry at him.  But “patient zero”, the first person infected with swine flu- he’s just a kid!  He’s a five year old boy.  It’s just horrible, that he got the swine flu and that it’s spread so far, it’s awful.  But it’s not his fault.  He’s just a kid who became sick, fought the illness, and was lucky enough to recover.  He had no control over getting sick, and even “getting better” was not really under his control either.  It was all happening in his immune system.

I pray this swine flu is brought under control, and I truly believe that we will stop it before it becomes a problem.  But there is truly no one to blame for this.

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This article makes me wonder how common it is.

As a US citizen, I’ve traveled overseas with a certain degree of comfort, that it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY I would ever be arrested or prosecuted by another nation, presuming I at least attempt to obey their laws.  I don’t know the whole story behind the people in that article- two men who are imprisoned in Mexico.  I know that some people, like that journalist who was imprisoned in Iran, have dual citizenships and have run into trouble because of that.  I am most certainly NOT a dual citizen- I am 100% American citizen.  But I still wonder.

Not that dual citizenship ever makes it okay.  People should never be falsely imprisoned overseas- what a horrible horrible experience!  I worked for awhile in a prison in Ghana (we were helping to build a kitchen) and it was horrible.  People there did not even have FOOD, and Ghana is one of the most well developed nations of western Africa!  I don’t know how our nation will react to all of these situations, but I pray for the people who are trapped in those prisons.  What an awful awful experience.

Many of my friends know that we do not have cable television.  We have never had cable television.  The only time I ever had cable television was during the year and a half when I lived in the college dormitories.  It’s just a money thing- we don’t see the need to spend money on it every month.

I do get my fill of cable TV nowadays when I pet-sit for my offline “BFF”.  She has a bunch of cats as well as Direct TV.  Her hubby is quite brilliant and set up a whole Direct TV system in their house that provides Direct TV service to every room.  I’m not a total cable television junkie, but there are a few programs that I really enjoy.  Come to think of it, many of my favorite programs are on Discovery Health, which is going to disappear in a few years and be replaced by Oprah’s network.  One more reason to not have cable- Oprah is taking over the world!

Today I stumbled across this article on CNN.com.  It’s a fascinating look at the life of best-selling author Ted Dekker.  Dekker’s parents were Christian missionaries and he grew up amongst a tribe of cannibals.  It’s absolutely fascinating.

It reminds me of a book called Peace Child by Don Richardson.  I read that book while I was in high school.  I was the only teenager in my church, so instead of an “official” Sunday School curriculum, my pastor’s wife and I would read books from my pastor’s collection. It’s the (true!) story of Don Richardson’s life as a missionary among cannibals.  I won’t give away the ending because I could never tell it as well as Don Richardson tells it.  But all I can say is wow- I highly reccommend you read it.  It’s one of those books that you can’t put down.  The fact that it is a true story only makes it even more powerful!