It was during the fury of the world cup that I first read the news that Médicins Sans Frontiers called for international attention to contain the new outbreak of Ebola. But the media considered that news about the world cup took priority. After all, football means money, and Ebola is monetized until it becomes a pandemic—when suddenly everyone becomes health-conscious and demands a cure.
Today (August 8) the public is concerned about the arrival of the first Ebola-infected patient in Atlanta, and they are suggesting apocalyptic scenarios about the situation.
Can a disease like Ebola completely wipe out the human race? I doubt it. Humans are so complex that they will develop the means to adapt. Should we be worried? I believe that we must look beyond and understand what an epidemic like this means.
From one point of view, a pandemic scenario can be considered a Decimated.
Decimated is a word derived from Latin meaning “to remove a tenth” and was a form of military discipline used by Roman commanders to punish soldiers guilty of capital offenses such as mutiny or desertion (Wikipedia, 2014.)
Why should we be disciplined or punished?
Because of our way of life, perhaps?
I don't want to be misunderstood as one of the apocalyptic enthusiasts, because as the definition above states, I consider it to be humans who punish other humans.
I have learned that people care and actively participate in solving problems to the point that it is out of control. And you rarely worry about problems when they are small and controllable, or even worse, you don't look for precursors to problems.
This passive behavior is seen in heavy smokers or people with obesity problems who suffer from diabetes who wear masks worried about contracting Influenza A (H1N1) and take them off to smoke or devour a giant bag of Cheetos.
Big problems are the cumulative result of small problems, just as a bacteria or virus infects a body by multiplying one at a time.
What are the small problems that come to torment us in the case of epidemics? The overpopulation of the earth, which we transform—for the worse—by destroying the natural defenses against viruses and bacteria (fungi control them within the ecosystem... if they exist.) We modify the structure of our DNA (what was evil is now harmless, but what was previously harmless is now lethal, diabetes is an example.) Many of these changes have happened by decision and others by allowing them.
Philosophically, these diseases are the symptoms of our sick species and planet. But from an evolutionary point of view, we are just struggling to adapt. The question here is whether within the Darwinian paradigm, will we choose to punish ourselves for adapting our bodies to the transformations we make to our ecosystem, or adapt our minds to not needing such transformations and celebrate our symbiotic relationship with the system?
The race for adaptation in humans is no longer surviving the elements, but rather surviving the intervention of man himself.
Many years ago, my pediatrician taught me an invaluable lesson: “prevention is the best medicine.”
But can we prevent harming ourselves?
M. Ch. Landa
