Word Prisms

Guys stand on the steps of the Michigan State Legislature touting AR 15s with clips and bowie knives hanging off their belts yammering on about a COVID conspiracy and one world government but I didn't expect to meet someone like them, especially in a small B.C. town at a barbershop. But, that’s exactly what happened to me when I went for my first post-COVID-isolation haircut.    I had just helped my wife start the laundry next door and entered the barber shop about five minutes after the local bait salesman. Waiting my turn, I was privy to a most bizarre conversation. Fearing that I would be invited for an opinion, I instead concentrated my efforts on using my phone to record the proceedings. As a consequence of my fumbling to find an application for recording, my offering of the conversation begins some time after it started.   Our two characters in this play are the barber wearing a full-face shield for protection and a large, sixtyish white man with a long beard and a ...

After travelling to Malaysia and Singapore, it’s interesting to compare the reaction of these countries to the COVID-19 outbreak and that of my own and the United States. Malaysia had its first case of the coronavirus on January 25 th . While my wife and I visited the country, the number was kept at 26 and since then has sprung to 93. No deaths have resulted from the disease.   The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Singapore on January 23. Since that time, 130 cases have been detected. And like Malaysia, no deaths.   Then, of course, there’s the statistics coming in from around the world, 7041 infected in South Korea with 53 deaths, Italy with 5,883 infections and 233 deaths, Iran with 5,823 infections and 145 deaths and so on down the line. Of course, these numbers are changing hourly. New cases in China have diminished considerably and Canada is well down the list with 60 infections and no deaths. Our close...