” He Said Licking Rats Was His Right.”

” He said licking rats was his right.”

The image shows us a scene meant to place the parties involved during the Plague Time Zone about five centuries ago. The man has headwear that was a mask common to doctors during the plague. Doctors would stuff the breathing area with herbs intended to block the disease, therefore avoiding contamination. We see the diseased patient and his grieving relative, who could be his wife or maybe a daughter.

The doctor offers consolation to the grieving relative explaining that the deceased had said that licking rats was his right. We all know that the Plague was brought on by sick rats. Licking rats was a sure way to contract the illness and die. The idea of someone willingly licking rats during the Plague is mindboggling and disturbing beyond words. Yet here we are with hundreds of thousands of dead people due to our modern-day Plague, the Coronavirus Pandemic during which millions of people are knowingly and purposely licking sick rats by refusing to embrace the basic sanitation and distancing rules required to remain healthy. I nearly hear Darwin’s drumbeat chanting “survival of the fittest, survival of the fittest.” Are these people wanting to die, from mass suicide? Have they been brainwashed? Are they arrogant beyond comprehension in their thinking that they will not get sick? Are they in denial of all that is happening? Are they capable, intellectually, of comprehension?

We drown in questions wanting to grasp what is happening all around us. People that I know, are educated people, out partying with friends, embracing the ‘brothers’ with drinks in their hands. Posting pictures of their good fun times. None are wearing masks, face shields, or gloves. Hanging out as if life were safe. Afterward going home to their wife and little children. Aghast is how it looks to these knowing eyes. Why are they licking the sick rats? That is the question we will be exploring in the future.