The Children

The children next door were out playing yesterday afternoon. It is good to see them out; being inside so much and the weather is finally beautiful is hard on them. They shouldn't fear this virus. There were pictures of the children in Sweden going to school, playing and carrying on as if life had not changed and for them it has not. The children are always the future and they will have to manage this world. they shouldn't be hindered by fear of a disease which is not attacking them. It is of course problematic to have school ongoing; I do realize that but it probably isn't problematic for them. It is perhaps for the teachers/administrators/custodians. Then there are the grandparents/great grandparents who are separated from the children and probably will be for a while yet.

I have been out and about quite a bit the last few days. My husband needed blood work and the car needed to have the snow tires off. I did the driving and walking for the tires. It was good to feel the sidewalk under me as I walked the 1.5 kilometres back from leaving the car and then back again to pick it up. I do love to walk. Plus walking is so good for you. I did wear my mask and probably will do that whenever I am out. We bought a big pack of masks for sanding and they are good enough for this particular task.

I was thinking as I walked about the children and there weren't any playing in their yards (at least I could not hear them) as I walked back and forth. None of them were riding their bikes but I was walking on the main road so not surprising actually that they were not out there on their bikes. When they are going to school we might see them on their bikes but otherwise they keep to the subdivision streets away from the main road.

I worked away on my aggregate matches and discovered a couple of new ones that I had missed when I was working my way through them as they arrived in my 23 and Me account. One in particular was rather interesting and I did write to him. That is unusual for me these days; I seldom write to matches any more. I can usually figure out which line they are but these matches on Chromosome 3 are quite precious as I have not yet definitively separated out my maternal grandparents. I have a good hypothesis but a good match would be better.

I am back at work again finally with my volunteerism as a Patient Partner. Looking forward to working on that project.

There will be a lot of studies I suspect when COVID-19 has finally been put to rest. It is seventeen years since SARS and we did at the time learn all those lessons but we have been lucky and complacency crept in; stored supplies aged and were not renewed and the old supplies used up. We must not let that happen again. We must always be ready for viruses that break out; cross that barrier between avian into mammalia. Our very existence depends on vigilance. Our very existence also depends on having the tools to take care of ourselves and we need to ensure that those industries become essential to Canada and do not get taken over by multinationals. I will never be able to look at an N95 mask again without checking to see where it was made. We need to make those vital pieces here in Canada where we have immediate access to them. International trade is a good thing; I do believe that. It helps all peoples to a better existence and brings such interesting things into our part of the world. But in reality we can live entirely without international trade and should always be able to revert back to that status when we need to do so.

The Children are the most important part of our world though; they are the future. Our species survives because of the children. We must do our best for them; make their world a better place so that they in turn grow up respecting the world and our place in it. What we have received from our ancestors we must constantly be on guard to be improving on it so that our children can do an even better job.