Swine Flu, Earthshakes and other calamities

Whoa... Mexico has gone crazy recently. Today, after a fairly normal weekend, I had to talk to people about real-life dangers. For example, this morning there was an earthquake in Mexico City, that measured 5.7 on the Richter scale. Although they survived it without incident, our employees there had to be evacuated so that a team of engineers could evaluate the building to make sure there was no structural damage. The fact that the earth beneath us can shake is unfathomable for me, and I would prefer not to have to find out what it feels like.

Then, we had to send out special communications today to let the employees know what is going on with the now infamous swine flu that is ravaging Mexico City and rapidly spreading to other states of the Republic. AHHH. The government decided to close all schools and day-cares in the country, along with lots of museums, a major fair in Aguascalientes, and lots of other things like movie theaters and other gathering places. The recommendations are that people not kiss each other on the cheek or shake hands in greeting, that they wash their hands excessively, that they avoid close quarters, and basically that they shun sick people as if they had the plague (which technically, they have a sort-of modern day version). I am a little bothered because I recently read the book Blindness which talks about contagious blindness and how people reacted so terribly to it, and people are starting to get a little crazy here too, but what can you say? Lots of my coworkers starting wearing those hospital nose/mouth masks and several are ready to lock themselves in their homes and not emerge until things calm down. Mexico is getting the worst of it with lots of deaths, possibly because people don't go to doctors when they are sick for many reasons, money being a big one. And now, if you go to a health clinic, you are likely to walk away sicker. The U.S. government is sending out information to citizens who live in Mexico to let us know what they recommend, and I guess if they start saying that they are going to limit travel to the US from Mexico I will have to take heed and go home while things are calm. My original plan was to stay in Puebla and then fly out of Mexico City, but with the chaos, that may change drastically. Ay, who knows.

The other calamity is not a natural-disaster, but a man-made one. Several of my coworkers have been laid off in the last several days, so that just makes everything all the more depressing. It's bad enough to see people with blue masks on, but when you see them crying too, it's a whole new story.

Suffering, please dissipate.