A Tale of Two Viruses

Being the easy-going, even-tempered guy that I am I took it like a man and didn't swear much at all after being struck down by a virus. That changed completely when my computer was struck down by a virus. I can live with being sick but turn into an angry bear when my computer has to go the shop. Like that simpering wimp on TV commercials says, "It's your lifeline." The computer is my lifeline. Without it I can't write scintillating short stories or wisdom-filled blogs.

It turned out I didn't have a virus, just my semi-annual kidney infection that returns on schedule as precisely as the buzzards return to Hinckley the first day of every April. The computer, however, had not only a virus but 234 things that needed fixing. So it's fixed, and I'm $109 poorer than I was at this time yesterday.

Being computerless for a few days gave me time to ponder the strange nature of Americans. They want everything and they want it now. They want every pothole in town fixed up and they want super highways when they travel. If they go by plane they want skilled air-traffic controllers guiding them safely through the sky. They want the FDA to keep their food supply in perfect shape and the EMS to rush to their aid if they get sick or hurt. They want firefighters standing by if they set their house afire and cops to charge after the bad guys who rob them. They want schools that are at least on par with those in Zimbabwe and a military force to fight multiple wars in countries no one can find on a map. All that is just the tip of the iceberg of their many wants.

But there is one thing they do not want. They don't want to pay for any of this.

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