
No, not PENILE TRANSMITTED VENEREAL DISEASE …
…that’s so 1960’s and ’70’s.
You wouldn’t believe how many times – while working in a hospital lab in Canada’s Arctic region – in the late 1970’s, I isolated a fun bacterial bug scientifically labelled Neisseria gonorrhoeae on my lab culture plates.
You know… The Clap. Venus’s Curse. The Drip.
Nasty bug (although admittedly kinda cute microscopically) for sure, but with proper treatment it went away more readily than will the PTVD I’m discussing today.
Yes, the PTVD I’m talking about here is Post Traumatic Virus Disorder.
In many ways, it’s spread through person-to-person contact too… albeit socially-isolated contact ie. daily news reports and social media websites.
Remember a year ago (or was it a decade?) when we panicked and washed canned goods before setting them onto a pantry shelf? When we rushed to fill our carts with rare exotic gems such as toilet paper, flour and yeast?
It’s really hard these days to see life through anything except “virus” glasses.

Yup, our days are lived out in some form of Post Traumatic Virus Disorder.. maybe forget the “POST” part… it’s still just Traumatic Virus Disorder.
For about 400 days and 400 nights now (sounds slightly biblical, doesn’t it?) we’ve riddled and sieved and parsed everything we do through the virus filter.
Should I go here? should I do this? will my friends judge me for not wearing a mask at the Starbucks drive-thru? am I likely to pick up – or transmit – the virus if I do that?
For many months, trauma and guilt have been built-in to every decision we’ve made, accompanied by… sometimes righteousness, sometimes worry, sometimes rebellion, sometimes disgust.
And much like the recent American election where opposing sides dug-in to their polarized stances on politics and “swamps”, most of us world-wide have similarly dug-in to a position on the relative seriousness of the COVID virus, the efficacy of masks and gloves, the meaning and dividing lines of personal freedoms.
Families, friends, and neighbours split up on either side of the volleyball net.
They lob volleys of logic or loose thought at each other, stealthily trying to score points, rarely taking notice that they’re actually playing on different courts, so that neither side can win regardless of the quality of their “spike shot”.
It’s become an ugly game.

I have definite strong thoughts about this.
You can probably guess where I come down on the matter with my science-based lab background – but I understand there’s not a great deal of hope in persuading others who oppose me of my beliefs, no matter how well thought-out or expressed.
Or honestly, to be swayed in a different direction myself. The trenches are deep.
Virus-wise, I sweat out and contemplate my choices daily, often many times daily. There are personal and moral dilemma bridges to cross.
Sadly, and somewhat distressing, this divide is an ocean, a divide with no boats available to span the distance without large societal change.
To use the American example once more, the virus is a microcosm of heavily-partitioned Democratic vs Republican thought.
These are large issues, politics and viruses… issues larger than my brain capacity.
I wish I had the mental acuity to work out a solution to the monumental challenges that face us in months and years to come.
I know what I’d like to see, but alas, I don’t have the recipe (*can you hear me singing?… And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh noooooo)
Fortunately (for my mental health), I’m confident and optimistic that there are and will be solutions found along the road to overcome the difficulties. But. It will take time.
When humanity has appeared doomed (eg. during previous World Wars), approaches and answers were brought forward that allowed us to progress into a hopeful future… not a perfect future, but a hopeful one.
It’s tough. But both Penile Transmitted Venereal Disease and Post Traumatic Virus Disorder are largely solvable and will allow us to share “intercourse” once again with our fellow citizens…
Let’s remember what Voltaire said,
Perfect is the enemy of good. Done is better than perfect. The best is the enemy of the good.

Apr 18, 2021 @ 17:46:23
Heh there Larry….another interesting blog worthy of throwing my 2 cents worth in to either muddy the waters more or possibly to add some clarity. You really touched on a couple of key points that I too want to comment on:
1. I agree with you 100% that the polarization of the political systems in many democratic nations (especially palpable in the states) has led to an all out assault on logic and reason (and science) in favour of this or that particular ideology. Such polarization based on political party above all else has thrown reason and logic to the wind. An ideology exists when the belief or practice becomes more important than the human beings it/they are are suppose to serve!!! Humans, then, become easily sacrificed for the ideology. Example numero uno: Nazism!!! Look at the toll on human life as a result of that horror!!! Now shift forward to this day and we see political systems on “both sides of the aisle” where human rights and even life are sacrificed for this or that political ideology…..children in cages along the US/Mexico border, mass shootings galore but don’t even think about promoting sane gun laws, Mo money/Mo money/Mo money and who cares about the environment…etc etc.
2. The assault on science is astounding to me. It seems that in the past few years science and scientific reason has been totally abandoned in favour of these same ideologies, conspiracies, partisan points of view, etc. I NEVER thought I would live to see the day when ignorance reigned over reason and science the way it is today!!! My personal view is that the Creator (oh oh….Jim is going to mention the “G” word) or the Great Spirit has given humanity two great tools by which to guide our engagement with our environment: a) science, b) religion. They are two aspects of one gift to humanity and both are important. True religion (not the man made interpretations that have divided humanity) gives man his moral compass….love your neighbor, do well unto others as you would like done to you, serve mankind, give to the poor, etc etc…all the great religions have taught these principles. Science is a tool where man has been able to use his intellect for great material advancement and has allowed man to transcend nature and bring nature into service to humanity. Religion without the reason and logic of science can fall into superstition in a heartbeat. Science without the ethics and morality of true religion can become a prolific source of evil to humanity. Both science and true religion are important to human development. To see the essence of true religion corrupted in favour of political aspiration and to see the reason and logic of sound science made a mockery of is the true tragedy of this PTVD era we live in.
These two points (and your excellent blog points raised) beg the questions:
How will it be possible going forward for people to come back to trusting science so that we can benefit from science to protect ourselves, our families, our communities, our world (such as is the case with this COVID pandemic) when the powers that be endeavour to bend science to their will for personal gain and people fall “lock-step” in line totally ignoring reason??? This will be a great test of human human will to overcome ignorance in favour of sound reason and intelligence.
How will it be possible to overcome the “scapegoating” and “othering” ploy casting blame on this or that group (immigrants, Muslims, black people, 1st Nations people, etc) going forward??
How will it be possible for the different religions that all profess to believe in “God” to come together and work side by side for the betterment of all humanity even though each religion has unique and perceived varied belief systems?? How can these religions avoid the “I am right and all others then must be wrong” trap in order to put aside their sense of superiority and exclusive right to truth for the betterment and advancement of all humankind???
OK…..I will stop ranting BUT these are some of the ponderings I have been mulling over for the past year and your blog has served as a catalyst to release these pent up ponderings…:-)
Peace,
Jim
PS….hurry up and resolve all of these issues would ya Larry….then we can get on with “peaceful easy feelings” of love for all 🙂 “I know you won’t let me down”
Apr 20, 2021 @ 10:55:17
Deep and valuable reflections James. Once again, you’ve added a lot of thoughtful enlightenment to my words. I very much appreciate your hybrid approach to humanity with the notion of 2 tools (that’s not YOU and ME!!) and how they can work in synergy to make the world both compassionate/spiritual and simultaneously progressive on a number of fronts.
PS. I’ve been “workin’ on these dreams I planned to try”, but it will take a few more “tequila sunrises” before I come up with any big answers to my questions and yours. Thanks for your sane and sage words 🙂