Recently, we decided to cut down on the amount of television we were watching. We'd been coming home, putting down the loads we carried from the day, and then plugging into the television to watch repeating, endless episodes of Law and Order, CSI, and House. The words 'we've seen this one before', did not phase us. Of course we had seen them before. We watched them again. The Z-zone was in full bloom.

So, we decided that we needed to quit that. I have stacks of books I'm waiting to read. My wife always has two or three books she's in the process of reading. There was more to life.

We cancelled all but the briefest set of channels on the cable. I can no longer access the 24/7 cable news feed. So, what I have noticed is that I seem to be going to the internet to find out what is happening. So, it's not as if I don't have access to CNN or Foxnews. I still do. I can watch the BBC on television, and I can stay tuned to the others on the internet. However, what I no longer do is turn something on and let it run through my brain for hours at a time.

So it was that I began to run across pictures of people in Mexico, people wearing surgical masks and reading of schools and public events closing all over that country. They are fearful that a pandemic of the swine flu might take form there. Cases of the flu are also popping up in countries in which people have visited Mexico, and there are many cases now evident in the United States.

I thought 'people in Bermuda travel a lot, and a lot of people travel to the United States and to Mexico'. I wonder if there is a pandemic, what might be the consequences for people in Bermuda?

As we are all beginning to hear repeatedly, such pandemics in the past have killed millions world-wide. In order to cut down on the impact of such a flu outbreak, people usually do not gather in groups; thus, that is why Mexico is closing down schools and large events. What is the equivalent of that approach for Bermuda? Will the clubs start serving a flu special during happy hour? Will theatres provide surgical masks when you purchase your ticket?

It's not that I'm thinking we need to do any of these kinds of things, or anything else in particular. I trust that someone is watching the store, and I trust that health officials here have some kind of contingency plan. Frankly, I think I'm just concerned that someone I know and love does not become so ill that it threatens his or her life. I have made quite a number of friends here in Bermuda, and I count people of all ages in that category. I have also met a huge number of fascinating and wonderful people through my practice. This flu does not seem to attack the usual victims (the very young and the very old); it seems like it might be an equal opportunity predator a raptor whose talons have a broad span. So, my concern includes little children I have bounced on my knees to older folks who have bounced me around with their blunt attitudes and everyone of usually fit and healthy constitution in between.

I have also noticed that suddenly I am curious about viruses themselves. I read once in Scientific American that a virus is a halfway organism: half biological and half robotic. I don't know if that is a good way of conceiving of them, but when I recall that description, I also recall a DVD I watched recently about intelligent design and the origins of life.

That's a debate for another time, but one of the things in the DVD was its description of the complexity within the single cell, including micro-machines that actually carry out maintenance and construction projects for the cell. This is not mere metaphor; these machines have gears. Could it be that viruses are sub-cellular machines that once escaped the confines of single cells and now mutate and attack larger organisms? But how could that be if viruses cannot grow or reproduce outside of living cells?

Would knowing a lot about viruses keep me from catching one? I doubt it. Would knowing how they spread keep me from catching this swine flu that's going around? I think that if I'm diligent to wash my hands all the time and wear a surgical mask perhaps I could be safe, but then, what are my clients going to think if I greet them looking like I'm about ready to pull out a scalpel and make an incision? No. And I don't think other people who have to work will be wearing surgical masks either, so if there is a flu pandemic on the way, I will have to take my chances like everyone else, and talk to God a lot about the whole thing.

Maybe what I should really do is just cut out all the news. No more CNN, Foxnews, or BBC even on the internet. No more newspapers. Don't tell me what's going on in the world, because I don't want to know. If the flu is gonna getcha, it's just gonna getcha. There. That solved that problem.