" Sick Of the Ill and Ill of the sick " How many times have we heard, “raise your hand if you are tired of Covid-19?” Too many to count for sure. Have you ever felt like you are watching a bus drive off of a cliff and there isn't anything you can do about it? Well that is how I currently feel. A never-ending optimist by heart, this is not an easy thing for me to admit. I currently reside in Florida. A New York girl living in a Florida world as they like to say. The place where everyone claims to have New York pizza but it's really the dilapidated Gyro King that makes it the best. The land of eternal sunshine and bad decisions. Sometimes I wonder how a place so beautiful, a place know for Mickey Mouse can really just be a rather large penial colony. Let's just say if you have ever seen Live PD, we have been featured in some of their most exciting episodes. Flu season is not usually very bad here. Back up in N.Y. we were accustomed to getting sick a few times a year with illness that leave you bed ridden for 5-7 days at least. That may be why people here don't seem to be taking the Coronavirus very seriously or maybe it's because they haven't known anyone who has had it. Checking in with our New York family via Zoom once a week since March we have heard all about the devastation this virus has caused. We have even had family members suffer from it firsthand. My immediate family and I have been quarantining since March Currently we are averaging 7,000-10,000 new cases a day here and the ICU's are almost full. During the original shutdown in March everyone was taking things seriously and we had very few cases. Our Governor has insisted that the Schools will open in about six weeks from now and I don't understand it. A beloved Broadway Actor whose story we have all been following just passed away and they want us to put our children at risk? The tiny humans spawned from our bodies that we love more than anything. Just gamble with their lives? I must ask myself daily if the world has gone mad but I already know the answer is an undeniable YES! Megalomaniacs are in office creating their own narrative. We have a governor who has blamed our outrageous numbers on migrant workers, more testing, skewed numbers and kids being kids. Florida isn't the only southern state with growing numbers. Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have been growing steadily. California has just hit the 300,000 mark and Florida is over 200,000 now. The scientist who was controlling the dashboard for the Florida numbers was asked to tamper them down and when she refused, she was fired. The lead epidemiologist who has worked for the state of Florida for 15 years quit when our governor stated he will definitely be opening schools. This brings me to my point as the song goes, “I've got issues. But you got ‘em too.” What do we do as hopeful law-abiding citizens when the government does not have our backs? What do we do when they have decided to be careless with our lives? I have often wondered how some of the atrocities of the past were allowed to happen and then fast-forward to today and we are letting history repeat itself. We have seen the Flu of 1918 first and second wave. Have we not evolved more than this as human beings? Were we just kidding ourselves? Every day I read the news from all of the available sources so I can decipher what the actual truth is. I look at the national numbers, Florida's and my counties. I look to see how many people have died and figure out the ratio to the number infected. I don't want to let the facts overwhelm me as I refuse to be someone who ever lets fear overtake them but I do have questions. One of which is, “Why are some countries in Asia showing so much more caution with less numbers?” “What do they know that we don't.” I have to think that since they have had outbreaks like this before Covid-19 they have much more experience than us. I have seen China and Italy shut down completely and eventually be able to contain this virus while we are still open with millions of cases nationwide and over 200,000 in our state alone. It makes you wonder if we can't get out of our own way? If America is much more concerned with money/economic stability than lives. Has the government just decided that they are willing to sacrifice a certain amount of American lives behind closed doors? What is the actual number of deaths that will make them take this virus more seriously? Does that number exist? It makes you wonder.

For this will be your final meal until your slumber takes you. Both Pachyderm and Burro heard this haunting phrase before the evening of the games. They would swing swords tomorrow for all to see. The entire Colosseum would be full, and this fight would mean everything to them alone. To the onlookers this was an exciting day. They would dress in their best and eat and drink until their hearts content. They are here for the merriment and to place bets on the winner. "Oh, how they would never know how hard he has trained for this day and how he was putting his life on the line for a modicum of respect he may never receive," Burro thought. He was from a lowly Burro family in the valley that had to work hard for everything they had and somehow ended up here. Fighting the Pachyderm in a Colosseum full of spectators for their sick enjoyment. He was interviewed by one of those uppity Swans from the Spartacus Gazette who would put her own spin on his beliefs. She would of course say he was fighting for Burros everywhere when really, he was just trying to make some money for his family to survive. Those Swans loved to talk up the lowly Burros and turn their lives into a rising from the ashes story for entertainment. Pachyderm was from a well to do family. They had made a name for themselves in trade. Derm as his friends called him, really did not want to enter this battle but he had no other way of gaining his fathers respect. His father, a hard Elephant had come from nothing. Papa Derm was tough on all his boys making them train daily with little approval in the name of toughening them up. If Derm lost this fight he might as well die because he certainly could never show his face at home again. He pondered the answers he had given Swan and how she kept comparing him to his brothers. “I am going to be a laughingstock even after I'm dead!” thought Derm The morning of the melee had arrived, and the stands were roaring with animal sounds. “What Pigs!” thought Burro to take such enjoyment in others demise. There were banners from all of the sponsors waiving through the air profiting from this horrid event. Pachyderm saw his family in the audience and his father didn't even wave or smile. Both animals were called to center ring, they circled each other ready to trap or maim one another. They wanted this spectacle to last for a while as the fans had paid good money for tickets to this brawl. Derm had chosen a spear to be held with his tusk and Burro picked a sword that the newspaper had deemed the “blade of justice.” Round and round they went without a strike, the crowd was growing impatient. “Kill that dirty Burro!' someone yelled. That comment had really stunned Derm. Burro was his opponent meant to fight to the death but he still had respect for him. How could someone say something so horrible about this gladiator? “Murder that stupid Donkey!” "This was getting crazy," Derm thought. It was hard to focus on fighting this worthy opponent that he had trained with, ate with and slept near while obscenities were being yelled. Derm stopped suddenly in the middle of circling Burro and yelled, “We may be opponents, but we are equals here!” The crowd booed in disbelief. He turned to see his father's angry face. He didn't care, he wouldn't stand for this, if he was going to die anyway he might as well do it with dignity. Burro stopped and starred at the Pachyderm with incredulity. They were supposed to be killing each other not defending one another. Derm threw his sword down and told Burro to kill him, that he would be their puppet no longer. Being an animal of decency Burro discarded his weapon as well. The crowd went silent for a few minutes trying to figure out what was happening. Then they turned on the animals violently. They started to jump the stands and rush the two animals like a tsunami. Derm grabbed Burro and pushed him towards the door they came out of. The animals ran inside looking for an escape. The crowd backed them into a corner and Derm covered Burro with his bountiful body. Burro looked up and said, " you don't owe me this.” Derm looked at Burro while he was being attacked from the back and said, “Take care of your family, I have nothing to go home to." As the animals were stomping the selfless Pachyderm needing to make someone pay the Gazette was in the corner writing the story for Monday's paper. Burro was able to go back to his grateful family because the crowd was satisfied with Derm's sacrifice. He would often think of the Pachyderm and mourn the events that had transpired. They had mostly left him alone these days as the battles were henceforth deemed too merciless to be continued. Burro pondered how it always seemed to take a terrible sacrifice to change such things. Derm's family raised a plaque to him at home in his honor and spoke of his bravery often. “What more could he have wanted,” thought Burro, except maybe his life?"