“Catching a Cold”

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Remember when people just caught colds – and that’s all there was to it?

They didn’t think it was maybe something more. Didn’t rush to the doctor’s office to “get tested.” Only neurotics did that. Now we all do that – to one degree or another. It is almost impossible not to at least think “Rona Thoughts” when you feel your nose getting runny, a scratch in your throat . . . in the face of almost three years now of neurotic obsession with sickness.

It is a measure of what they have done to us.

We regard ourselves with suspicion – as well as one another. The sound of a cough in a public space prompts thoughts few of us thought three years ago. The next-day feeling not so well, ourselves, causes us to think we might be “infected” as opposed to just having caught a cold.

Which I caught late last week – I think – while visiting my mom at the Memory Care facility where she lives now. That was Thursday. By Monday, I  felt a scratch in my throat that – for me – is a sure sign of a coming cold. My nose began to run later in the day. But by Tuesday, whatever it was was clearing out and – today – I am back to normal. What’s abnormal is writing about this as if it were something unusual.

People used to just catch colds. It was part of normal life. You stuffed some Kleenex in your pockets, maybe – so as to have something to blow your nose into while in the car. But you didn’t alter your life or even give it much thought. You went to work – and your co-workers expressed the usual sentiments. Yeah. I had that one a few days ago. Sucks. Hope you feel better soon!

But no one ran away from you if you coughed.

No one asked if you planned to “get tested.”

Now, it’s almost expected. That is a barometer of the extent to which this sickness has permeated our society.

We’re reluctant to mention that we’re feeling less-than-well, because of the ingrained expectation that those we tell will recoil. That we will be expected to “get tested” – and that if we don’t, we are being “irresponsible.”

Heaven forbid we “expose” anyone.

It makes us want to stay home – to avoid going to work, seeing friends. Or even telling them. Not because we suspect we are carrrier of a deadly “virus” but rather because  we’ll be treated as such at work and by our friends. There is now shame (and guilt) attending catching a cold – and not “treating” it as if it were a deadly “virus.”

And the problem there is how would we do that, exactly? What is the difference between a cold and the “virus”? Both having the same mild symptoms. A scratchy throat, runny nose. Cough. The manifestations of the common cold. And the dread “virus,” too. Since no one knows – or rather, can tell – the difference (if there is one) between one and the other, the default assumption is, it must be the “virus”!

That’s the response I got when I mentioned that I’d caught a cold after visiting my mom.  Mentioned feeling a little off to my brother-in-law. He reflexively said: “It’s probably COVID.” It’s this probably that is going to hang us up, as a society, for years and perhaps even decades to come. This now-ingrained assumption that every cold is the coof. Think about the implications. Think about how what used to be a backwater aberration – hypochondria – has become a mainstream problem, even for those not actually afflicted.

Neither I nor my brother-in-law are hypochondriacs. We don’t push the panic button over a runny nose. We certainly don’t immediately think: We’d better get tested.

And yet, we also think all of the things you and I have just been bruiting about in this short essay. Things almost none of us ever gave much if any thought to, before three years ago. We have been conditioned to think differently over the past going-on-three-years now, such that it has become a kind of reflex.

And if we’re thinking this way – those of us who have acquired immunity to hypochondria, per se – try to imagine what the legions of hypochondriacs are thinking. The ones who jump whenever they hear someone cough. The ones who do rush to the doctor’s office to “get tested” whenever they feel a cold coming on.

Who assume every cold is the coof.

We’re not getting over this anytime soon.

-----------------------------------------------------
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal

-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)

Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise