SARED & FEATHERED
Every once in a while I need to vent my spleen. This is one of those times, so if you get squeamish at the sight of spleen spatter squirting niggly piggly, please stop reading immediately.
SARS. Ok, I said it. SARS, SARS, SARS, SARS. Yet another four letter word for a world that already has quite a catalogue. If you have been a regular reader of my Whatchas, or have read my bio page, you know that I live in Toronto, or as the World Heath Organization calls us, "The Fringes"
Apparently we are the blight on the backside of North America. We are the mass of masked marauders for which the ten foot pole was invented. We are the city of cooties.
I happened to catch the news this morning and saw a clip of last nights Fox network newscast. I have long believed that you have to take "the news" with a grain of salt, but I've never been on the inside looking out before. The media has totally blown this situation out of all recognizable proportions. Hungry to tantalize American eyes, they have spun a story that bears no resemblance to reality. Toronto is not a "ghost town" as Fox suggested. It is a city that is basically running with business as usual. Yes, there are concerns, especially for the health care workers who are at risk, but to suggest that our city is in a state of panic, or unsafe, is completely wrong.
The facts are that the height of the SARS epidemic hit Toronto at the end of March. Since then it has been on the decline and according to provincial health officials, Toronto is expected to be SARS free in as little as a few weeks. Great lengths have been taken to ensure that this disease is contained and to date these efforts have been successful. In fact the chances of the average Joe Blow off the street contracting SARS in Toronto is 1 in 196,000, which is about the same probability of someone getting hit by lightening-excluding golfers!
To add icing to the cake and a bit of laughter into my day, I got a long distance call from a lady representing an evangelist who was supposed to be holding a healing crusade here in Toronto this weekend. Apparently the healing service has been canceled because of SARS. When she told me that, I began laughing and couldn't keep myself from saying, "So you are telling me that a healing service is being canceled because people are sick?" She said, "Yes, I guess that's right!" IRONY, IRONY, IRONY. Isn't that a little like calling off a Billy Graham Crusade because people are coming forward? I mean what is the purpose of a healing crusade in the first place? Hummmm.
As someone on the inside looking out, please don't believe what you watch or read in the media. The media has much more to do with entertainment and market share than it has to do with real news or the truth. I always assumed that was the case, but now I know it is the case.
OK, so what are some of the spiritual signposts from this SARS scenario?
First — fear is a scary thing! Fear makes people jump to conclusions and it turns off their brains. There have been people in Toronto who have made slanderous comments about the Chinese community simply because the virus originated in that part of the world. Chinatown has been hit by the fear that somehow Chinese people are carriers of this virus. This of course is absolutely ridiculous and downright unfair. As Christians, we have to be careful to get the whole story. We have to make sure that we don't jump on any bandwagons. We have to make sure that we have our facts straight. I don't know how many times I've gotten an email about Proctor and Gamble being Satan worshippers, or ABC canceling "Touched by an Angel" etc, etc. The Christian community has more than their fair share of urban legends because we assume instead of investigate. We need to be far more discerning than we've been in the past. We need to respond in faith, not fear. We have to listen to the Spirit, not the media.
Second — I am amazed by the dedication and the sacrifices of our health care workers. Several of them have been on the front lines since SARS hit Toronto. Many of them have fallen because they were trying to heal the sick. Many nurses and doctors have knowingly put their personal health in danger because they wanted to help those who were already infected. What an image! It's exciting to see others put their lives on the line to save those who are sick and dying. It's so refreshing to see this kind of commitment and dedication. If only we as Christians could be just as dedicated to Christ and the lost and dying. If we were, we would be able to heal the world and the Church of the worst infection of all-indifference to Christ!
If you have any comments or questions, email me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page. I promise to write back.
