The deadly Avian Bird Flu or H5N1 flu virus drew national attention in 2005 when a relatively small number of people in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia became infected after coming into contact with infected birds and scientists warned of a global pandemic. They said that the virus was mutating and may become contagious, spreadable via human-to-human contact, very soon. ABC World News covered it for a little while as did local news stations. I didn't know much about it except the information my parents told me. They told me that it was going to mutate, eventually and inevitably, and that people were going to start dying all over the world. I was terrified. My parents weren't ones to lie to me. I questioned them and questioned them but their answer remained the same. The news told of people killing or "culling" massive amounts of birds, which was another first in my life; the slaughter of thousands of living things. Life never seemed so cheap. I went online to research the subject, which was an extremely uncommon occurrence, unless it was for school, and discovered the true direness of the situation. I even emailed a doctor about it. I told him who I was and that I was scared; I asked him what I could do to keep from getting sick should the virus break out.
This news story was the first piece of media that had ever caused me to consider the possibility of an early death. I had always assumed that everyone lived until they were 80 which seemed like light years ("as the crow flies") away at the time. I began to think, "If I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with my life?". This thought has been raised more than once in my mind since I heard about the virus. Along with other things, the bird flu caused to do a bit of "living like you were dying" from time to time. Since this was the first time my own safety had ever been threatened directly (I could actually die!) it affected me a great deal.
The deadly Avian Bird Flu or H5N1 flu virus drew national attention in 2005 when a relatively small number of people in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia became infected after coming into contact with infected birds and scientists warned of a global pandemic. They said that the virus was mutating and may become contagious, spreadable via human-to-human contact, very soon. ABC World News covered it for a little while as did local news stations. I didn't know much about it except the information my parents told me. They told me that it was going to mutate, eventually and inevitably, and that people were going to start dying all over the world. I was terrified. My parents weren't ones to lie to me. I questioned them and questioned them but their answer remained the same. The news told of people killing or "culling" massive amounts of birds, which was another first in my life; the slaughter of thousands of living things. Life never seemed so cheap. I went online to research the subject, which was an extremely uncommon occurrence, unless it was for school, and discovered the true direness of the situation. I even emailed a doctor about it. I told him who I was and that I was scared; I asked him what I could do to keep from getting sick should the virus break out.
This news story was the first piece of media that had ever caused me to consider the possibility of an early death. I had always assumed that everyone lived until they were 80 which seemed like light years ("as the crow flies") away at the time. I began to think, "If I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with my life?". This thought has been raised more than once in my mind since I heard about the virus. Along with other things, the bird flu caused to do a bit of "living like you were dying" from time to time. Since this was the first time my own safety had ever been threatened directly (I could actually die!) it affected me a great deal.
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