Swine Flu ...

I graduated! Hehe, and I actually went to commencement, which I didn't think I would. I am glad I went to the Russian commencement, very personal, very nice, very small. I didn't go to psychology.

Then I went to History. It was funny. First, they said that the biggest problem facing us today is global warming (I guess that means we should have all been Environmental Science majors instead. oops.). Then they quoted Obama. Then they said we all did "so much" to help to elect Obama (you know me). Then they, very seriously, said that we would not be shaking hands because of the H1N1 virus outbreak.  The guy beside me went "what is that ... the swine flu?" and I laughed. Yep. And he laughed. Apparently, one student off campus may have tested positive for the disease.

Meanwhile, the WHO announced that it might declare it a global pandemic. Back to CU, they also cancelled the midnight breakfast for finals because of the outbreak, and there are fliers all over campus telling us to wash our hands. And then it hit me. People want this to be a problem, an outbreak. They want there to be an emergency, it is exciting! And the closer to the emergency you are, the more attention you can get (and the less of a real threat it is, the more "bravely" you can deal with it.). We live in Colorado, too, how sad. We missed 9/11, London, Madrid, Bombay, come on, people, throw us a bone! "But you had Columbine ..." "Well yeah, but that was like, ten years ago! And besides, I was in Boulder when it happened, and that was in Littleton ... that only works when you go out of state." Every time something bad happens (or something we can pretend is bad happens ... ), people seem to frantically trace their lines back to it, to see how close they can find that they actually were. Come on, people, six degrees of separation? I know I can do better than that. It is actually quite ridiculous. It seems like, instead of feeling sympathy for the people who were actually affected, people try to see how they can get a little bit of the spotlight.

And that is when there is something going on.