Heart Dialogue

Speak to me; communicate with me.
Do not walk away, do not dismiss
a truth we can both choose to see,
freedom to laugh, to live another day,
where hearts agree, or choose to disagree.

I promise to try to understand.
I promise to hear; I promise to listen
with all the powers at my command
so that you and I can truly connect
and choose to cross that line in the sand.

There can be no more us, no more them.
We have to find that common ground
where we can listen and transcend
the great man-made divide between us
where our hearts can meet and blend.

Come with me to a new day, a better way
where your dreams can be my dreams,
where our minds can blissfully play,
where you can be you, I can be me
where we truly hear what each has to say.

As we struggle to survive the combination of crises we have ourselves created, we will have to use all our skills and best intentions to recreate a better society more in keeping with truths like honesty, compassion, and the search for truth itself. It is imperative that we create a new platform for honest dialogue. This is not just for our politicians but for each of us who indeed are the government. I would like to start with a dialogue that I had with a dear friend who sees the issue of the ‘covid and vaccine conspiracy’ differently than I do. My responses are based on the best information I could find using reliable sources, scientific evidence, and the belief that these people have no ulterior motive other than to seek and report the truth.

Where did your data come from? Even so, using your data, there is a very high recovery percentage.

Same source as you, (https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/covid19), only my data is based on daily updates. There is no doubt a high recovery rate. Most people have minor symptoms followed by complete recovery. However, there is a second group that is more vulnerable due to genetics or medical history. Unlike the flu where we are sick for a week then recover, these people can have lasting serious medical problems. The biggest problem with this virus is that it spreads so easily. The sheer number of contacts means it will likely eventually reach the most vulnerable.

I, too, find it interesting that the USA has the highest physical number of cases in the world (not by percentage of population- actual cases).

Also by percentage of population such as California which is over 10%.

How can that be? They don’t have near the population that India and China do.

One is individualism and the belief that the government can’t tell them how to run their lives. Because of their fears, they have resisted measures to limit the spread of the virus including physical distancing and mask wearing resulting in a wider spread which, just on the basis of numbers, means more people with serious reactions, more hospitalizations, and more deaths. Another is the belief that the health of the economy is more important than individual health. The third factor is that the US has a large concentration of Spanish and African American families with much closer family ties and much more openness to hugs and kisses. Each of these families probably has a person working in the service industry in low paying jobs that can bring the virus back to the family bubble.

Britain is high compared to European countries. Why?

They were slower to react giving the virus a chance to get firmly established. England is also a cosmopolitan society with frequent visitors from counties that used to be part of the old British Empire (such as Hong Kong). This led to early infections that were allowed to expand before they were first detected. There is also evidence now of a new strain that may have been present a long time before it was actually detected. The rest is the principle of expanding numbers. We can be thankful that we live in British Columbia where Dr. Bonny Henry has done such an amazing job right from the start.

I can see that there might be some discrepancy in what is actually CoVid through testing and what is a collection of symptoms like CoVid. So maybe reporting is an issue.

Actually the number of false positives is not really a factor. It is a simple test to take a swab and identify the actual presence of the virus. The virus enters the nose and first grows in the mucus in the lining of the nose before working its way down to the lungs. A viral test checks specimens from your nose or your mouth (saliva) to find out if you are currently infected. There are on-the-spot tests that have some validity in the screening process but positive tests should be backed up by Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) which detect the virus’s genetic material. NAATs are generally more accurate, but sometimes take longer to process than other test types.

What has happened is that people who have heart, stroke, cancer, diabetes and illnesses that have much higher death rates than CoVid are actually in danger because of our one-sided attention to/fears of the CoVid virus.

The fears are real. The people you mentioned would probably die if they also had to deal with the virus. It is also true that prolonged fear can lead to prolonged or generalized anxiety which can weaken the immune system over time. So yes, it is a real problem. We have to take precautions to alleviate fear that can lead to herd susceptibility before we reach herd immunity. However, some fear is necessary. It is important that those who are most vulnerable stay away from crowds, hospitals, and waiting rooms as much as possible. It also important for the rest of us to do whatever we can to protect them.

The truth is that this virus is dangerous, not for its severity for most people, but because it can so easily spread to those who are vulnerable. All our cells have proteins that pass through our own cell walls to access nutrients from the bloodstream. This virus has hundreds of powerful proteins that appear as spikes that are equipped with the power to attach to other cells, enter them, and rob them of their nutrients. They multiply until they destroy the cell then move on to other cells at an alarming rate. Most of us have healthy immune systems that can hunt them down and eliminate them. However, those who are compromised are in danger of massive and rapid growth first shutting down the lungs and then opening the door to other viruses and bacteria to attack the body. In other words there is an urgency to stop the progress through fast identification and taking measures to support the immune system before it can create serious illness that may lead to massive numbers of hospitalizations and subsequent deaths.

The other factor is that its sheer numbers of those who are vulnerable can overtax our health system thus making it difficult to provide care for others who are in need. If it spreads to say a third of the population in Canada that would be over 12 million people instead of the 700, 000 we now have. Let’s say that 10% have serious reactions that would be 1.2 million instead of the 75,000 active cases we now have. If 10% of those die from the virus, it would be 120,000 instead of the 18,000 who have presently passed on. Therefore the primary need is to concentrate our resources on tackling the spread now and put off whatever optional medical procedures that we can.

By the way, in the USA right now, Covid IS the leading cause of hospitalization and death not cancers or heart disease. Canada is rapidly catching up with over 18,000 as of today.

I often think that all the stats, all the descriptions of how bad it can be has a real, and often ignored, negative effect on healing.

You are correct. Scare tactics do not work. We need to emphasize the benefits of compassion coupled with sound reasoning. We also have to be open to the need to find inner spiritual peace as the prime method of healing and preventing further damage caused by anxieties and their effect on our immune system and our quality of life.

I appreciate your last sentence, because, as useful as science is – it has been wrong before and was wrong until more information was discovered.

Indeed. We need to examine all the evidence and all the factors before making decisions. Science however has its place. It is the responsibility of scientists to be thorough and to report accurately. It is our responsibility to learn to evaluate their findings, accept true science for what it is, challenge the flaws, and use the data to draw logical conclusions

In addition, our church is an example, the grannies and grampas are dying from lack of touch and company. They are the ones we have seriously had to stop from hugging. Not the young people. If you are in a care home – so much worse. Is life worth living at that stage if you are actually incarcerated and totally isolated from the ones you love? Something to address. Existence at all costs?

This is a problem in our society that existed before the pandemic but obviously is much worse now because of social distancing. One of the positives of all this is the renewed awareness of the need for better long term care. The other thing for me is a reminder that life itself is precious. I intend to stay on this Earth as long as I can to enjoy it. Yes, it is indeed worth living as long as we are conscious and have opportunity and help in living a quality life. I do not want to make any decisions for anyone on whether their life is worth living. As long as they want to keep going, it is my responsibility to do everything in my power to make sure they have that opportunity. Yes, existence at all costs. Nothing else really matters. Once this thing is over, we need to be more conscious of the lives lived by the elderly. They have gifts that need to be valued and shared. We need to bring them back into the heart of the community. We all need hugs. To me the biggest tragedy here is not death because that is of course inevitable; the real tragedy is dying alone without the support and touch of loved ones.

Beliefs can be miraculous in helping to keep the body healthy. Keeping calm and believing that this too, shall pass is absolutely crucial.

You are right. Positive bias in our thinking and spiritual awareness of having joy and love in our lives strengthens the immune system. When we employ our spiritual energies to healing, miracles can happen.

I have no issue with doing what my country has asked me to do. Physical distance. Masks.

We Canadians for the most part have been responsible citizens not only protecting ourselves but being aware of our responsibility to others. Even with all the precautions the problem still continues to grow.

Let’s talk love next time. Now that we know each of us does our scientific research to come to conclusions. (Smile) I just thought a link in your post would encourage that research.

Yes. Dialogue is important but love is essential.

Stay well. En”joy” the day.