As promised last week, I want to begin with an update on Simba’s second vet visit, which was today. We took him unmedicated, and he was a bouncing ball of energy going in. He ate snacks, he sniffed everything, and when the vet and tech came in he greeted them both with sniffs and hand licks. He took treats from them, and we all thought it looked like the exam would go well. At which point he hid behind Mr. Brillig and refused to come out of the corner. When the vet tried to take him to another room, which he did last time, he refused to go. Which means when he goes back, we have to give him antianxiety meds and a mild tranquilizer, because a 95lb dog cannot be MADE to do anything. Sigh.
Moving on...
I have a friend who for the past several years has been writing a daily set of news bullets on social media. His social media feed is not as informationally aware as we tend to be here so his readers range from “I didn’t know any of this” to “Oh yeah to all of that”. He starts with his thoughts on whatever news catches his eye and then at the bottom he adds some This Day In History stuff.
I thought for tonight I’d cover This Day In History, March 11th. With grateful thanks to Wikipedia, Today In Science, and On This Day, let’s see what this day’s been through history…
222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander
1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time
1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people
1917 1st NHL championship game. Toronto Arenas over Montreal Canadiens 7-3
1931 – Rupert Murdoch born
1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops
1955 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, Nobel Prize laureate who discovered penicillin, dies
1960, Pioneer V was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in one of the first in-depth attempts to study the solar system
1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state
2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany
2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima nuclear plant
2021 – US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law
Huh. I’m sure something else must have happened on March 11th. I KNOW something did. Lemme think about it while I go scroll social media… Oh. yeah.
Four years ago today, on March 11 2020, the World Health Organization declared “We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”
Four years ago today, K1’s University like so many others told students they would not be returning to campus for the rest of the semester.
Four years ago my social media feed was full of very scared people, and already we saw others declaring this was no big deal. That we were being silly and it would be over in a few weeks. Let’s be honest, THOSE people are why as of now over 7 MILLION people have died due to Covid-19.
There’s a lot of talk these days that we’re letting the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns and supply chain shortages and utter upheaval of society… in short, the year 2020 and much of 2021, vanish down the memory hole. We make jokes about toilet paper shortages but when I see pictures in my social media “memories”… I can feel the fear and anxiety and ALL OF IT like it was yesterday.
Four years later and the CDC tells us we no longer have to isolate *even if we’ve tested positive* meaning sniffly kids go to school and workplaces don’t pay if you call out because you’re infectious. Our immunocompromised and disabled friends, family and neighbors are even more isolated because it is LESS safe for them to be out than it was in 2022.
And we’re facing the possibility that the man who told us bleach, horse dewormer and UV light up our colons will keep us safe but that masking and vaccinations will not. As we hop over to tonight’s Tops, I’m asking you to Remember where you were on March 11 2020. What were you thinking, what were the immediate impacts to your family. And how do you feel today?
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