Spreading Joy…

…Smile when they are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by, if you smile through your fear and sorrow, smile and maybe tomorrow you will see the sun come shining through, for you…

The song above has an interesting history.
I’ve found it to be true: After many years of hardship, especially during the pandemic, things are finally looking up again. But just as Charlie Chaplin – although more lucky in some ways – I’ve found as so many people around the world:
When life is sad or difficult you learn to smile to lighten the burden(s).

The song above was originally a piece without words for a film of Chaplin’s, one of his masterpieces. He was there in the beginning of the art of movie making, he improved it and became a master and an inventor with awards and special mentions all around the world. He knew, too.

Viruses Are a Species – Pandemics Are No Monopoly

image of people standing in queue for a vaccineMaking the vaccination mandatory was high time. Here in Austria it will become so in February 2022. I am grateful even if one might wonder if it is not a little late.

We have seen similar laws before, for example in connection with the plague, lockjaw (Tetanus), and last but not at all least polio. All of them are dreadful diseases.

COVID-19 is no different. The sickness makes breathing a pain, weakens the whole immune system, weakens the heart, and more. People die, every day. Since the pandemic started, millions of people have died all around the world.

‘Long-COVID’ is known already as a combination of conditions that persist often more than a year after getting through the sickness: Breathing impediment, a weak heart, weakened immune system and more. For all those who actually caught the disease it means: More pain.

It is an almost noble idea to try and get people who are doubtful or even in denial to be vaccinated without making laws to ultimately punish.
But there are limits to everything.

Children as well as grown-ups suffer from these lockdowns, close, open, close again. Wear masks, observe physical distance.

Of course there are those that are lucky: They know what working in the home office means. Who have devices all around them.

But a pandemic and people’s lives as well as businesses are no game, no monopoly!

Let’s remember for all those details we get every other second on all channels:
Viruses follow patterns. They have for millions of years on this planet.

This grave sickness is real and it is severe, not just a photo on Instagram.

To get vaccinated is a social and communal duty!

Make Vaccines Mandatory Against the Corona Virus!

animated image of ICUs in several countries
Free images of ICUs in times of Corona from online sources via Ecosia search engine

Mandatory Vaccines against the Plague, Poliomyelitis or Lockjaw (Tetanus) are basics. No one doubts for one minute how important they are. Dreadful diseases, each and every one of them.

The plague was a scourge – and still would be if people hadn’t been mass-vaccinated into the 1970s when I was still a child. It was considered a merit, not to say a virtue to be vaccinated against it. Since then the plague has been basically extinct globally.

But the Corona-virus vaccines are still a matter of discussion in political bodies – as regards making them mandatory?

How is it possible?

Haven’t we seen enough people dying – or seriously sick with dreadful symptoms, especially in the respiratory system?

Isn’t ‘Long-Covid’ – as a summary of symptoms persisting months up to a year after an infection and surviving it – ‘plague’ enough?

What has to happen in terms of costs, billions and billions all around the globe, dollars, euros, pounds, you name it… until proper laws are made, at last?

How many doctors and nurses have yet to be brought to their knees, figuratively speaking, in terms of severe fatigue, burnout, and eventually quitting their jobs?

Does no one have a heart for them?

It’s incredible – tragic, not to say cruel.

What are legislative bodies afraid of, really?


The official WHO (World Health Organisation) video on how it is faster and still safe in these times to approve new vaccines:

Corona: Home Alone – Protect Your Family and the Globe, Stay Safe

Clean empty hospital operating room and hand holding syringe

Think of the consequences, stay safe.

Italy, among others, and its tragic situation make it quite clear: health care, even around here has limits. Each and everyone of us can be responsible for infecting someone else, without our conscious knowledge, due to the Coronavirus’ infection pattern and ensuing sickness.

The Corona pandemic is one of the largest catastrophes yet to hit the nations around the globe. In some countries, situations resemble those of war, in peaceful times. Almost everywhere, you can find information, some more some less reliable. Here, in the middle of Europe, we are comparatively lucky… health care systems are among the best of the world. Planning and information are usually well prepared and easily accessible. Almost too much so.

Some people therefore tend to underestimate their own contribution, but I’d like to encourage all who read this, again:
Think of the consequences, stay safe.

It’s not always just about being ‘brave’ if you are not part of the medical staff yourself. It’s not about proving to be ‘above panicky people’.

Statistics here teach: since we all could infect at least three other people, before we know it, someone because of our carelessness will catch the infection and then has to be treated in a hospital’s intensive care unit. And those are limited even in the richest of nations.

So, if they ask you from your nation’s official channels, stay home, wear masks to go shopping, where required. Stay safe. Be responsible. And remember, one day, the worst will be past. And the stricter we keep to these rules, the sooner.

Thanks to all my neighbours and all others I know and the millions I don’t, who stay home – and safe, for themselves as much as for others!