Episode 155 - Patriotism, Ebola and The Fine Line Between Hooah and Stupid

Learning about Patriotism from an unlikely place, the fine line between Hooah and Stupid.  That’s coming up on today’s edition of the Hot Zone.

 

Hi folks.  I’m sure you are looking forward to the weekend, but I can promise you not nearly as much as I am.  It’s been a challenging couple of weeks for me to say the least.  My mom’s cancer diagnosis was a real shock, and dealing with that, well, I hope you never have too do it, let’s just put it that way.  I really appreciate your prayers though.  Prayer is more than just “sending good thoughts” at somebody.  Prayer really tangibly changes things.  I say that because I’ve seen it myself so many times throughout my life.  It’s also a huge help to know I can go talk to the Creator of the Universe anytime I want, and more importantly, I can trust that He’s in control and is working out His plan.  My mom taught me that.

 

You know, we’re not guaranteed another day on this planet, so if we woke up this morning, there’s probably something important we’re supposed to be doing.  If you follow me on the podcast or on social media, you know I spend a lot of time in dangerous places around the world.  And I don’t take that risk lightly.  But it’s what I was made to do, and it’s intensely interesting and meaningful work.  So for me it’s worth it.  

 

Which is why I’m not really into all the extreme sports.  I mean, I like adrenaline as much as the next guy, but when it comes down to it, throwing yourself off a bridge or setting a land speed record doesn’t really bring any meaning to your life.  I guess I’m a purpose junkie more than an adrenaline junkie.  But in the pursuit of purpose, I get all the adrenaline I need.

 

So I’m kind of skeptical of this one particular extreme activity: The Running of the Bulls that happens every year in Pamplona Spain.  Now I can appreciate the history of the sport, if you can call running away from angry beef a sport, but I can’t see much point in it.  Every year hundreds of thrill seeking dudes dress up and see how close they can come to getting killed by stampeding cattle.  I just….yeah…Okay.  Everyone else comes out to watch.  But you know we’re only watching out of sheer morbid curiosity, waiting for the next unfortunate runner to get gored or trampled.  It’s like watching car racing just for the crashes.  

 

Well this year one American disregarded the advice of his friends and family and went and participated anyway.  And everything was going great until, well, listen.

 

[gored by a bull]

 

So…yeah.  Let that be a lesson to you boys and girls.  The world is a dangerous place all by itself.  You should think hard about how to make it more meaningful, and be brave in so doing.  But if you decide to run with the bulls, you’d better know how to moooove.  And that’s what my kids would call a “dad joke.”

 

Okay, let’s move on to West Africa.  The number of Ebola cases is now north of 2,000, with over 1400 deaths.  If you’ve followed the podcast for awhile, you’ve heard some of the world’s top experts on Ebola explain this horrible disease which kills nearly 90% of those who are infected.  It could easily get loose and end up killing millions, even tens of millions of people.  That’s why it’s so frustrating that the aid workers and doctors who are trying to contain the outbreak keep getting attacked by suspicious villagers and criminal militias.  Make no mistake, folks.  Ebola is one of the greatest POTENTIAL threats the world is facing right now.  Here’s an aid worker who has been in the fight against it since the big outbreak in 2014.

 

[aid worker]

 

Today’s outbreak is spreading, with the first confirmed cases now in Uganda causing local authorities and medical personnel there to step up their efforts to check people coming across the border.

 

[lady at border]

 

USAID director Mark Green recently spoke about this and pointed out the sort of trifecta of threat they are seeing in West Africa that’s made many other African countries start refusing entry to any travelers coming from the affected area.

 

Now the scary thing is if you go back to what we talked about on yesterday’s podcast - the numbers of africans leaving their countries and making the trek to Europe and the United States, and those who are coming are getting increasingly desperate.  Recently there were protests and riots on the Libyan coast in migrant shelters because the Africans are saying conditions are terrible and they aren’t being allowed to get on boats fast enough.  And that goes back to the increasing hostility to irregular migration we’re seeing across Europe.  But if Ebola manages to hitch a ride north with one of these migrants, the state of the camps would almost guarantee a massive outbreak.  Add to that the fact that hundreds are flying to Ecuador every day and within weeks could be arriving at the US southern border….well it almost seems a miracle that Ebola hasn’t spread around the world already.

 

So. That’s exciting.  Nothing like some possible global apocalypse to get you in the mood for the weekend.  So let’s lighten things up a little bit.  This is one of the coolest things I’ve watched lately.  IT’s 35,000 people coming together in the Eastern European country of Estonia to sing patriotic songs about their homeland.  

 

They interviewed some of the people who participated to find out what it’s all about, and I have to say their English is incredibly good.

 

Well, I don’t know about you, but I really like their take on patriotism and freedom.  So have a good weekend everyone.  We’ll see you back next week on the hot zone.