KISS, in addition to being a timeless and rocking band, is also an acronym heralding the principles of simplicity – Keep It Simple Stupid (you can really make up the last S for your own liking – stupid seems a little harsh for some people.).
The latest fad in personal illness, H1N1, the new influenza strain commonly referred to as Swine Flu, has been all the rage with kids and adults. I even took a turn on the Popularity Carousel, dressing up as Swine Flu for Halloween (read: a pig with wings, which did more to confuse people than it did to amuse them. The most common initial reaction people offered was a timid “when pigs fly?” The lesson here is, when folks need to speculate what your costume is, especially when they require multiple guesses to figure it out, you didn’t do a very good job. Stick with a pirate or something.) I hope that’s as close to Swine Flu as you or I get.
Obviously, as with most ailments, certain segments of the population can be at greater risk from complications associated with H1N1. And it’s a serious issue despite the silly name; people’s well being and, in a lot of instances, lives, are at stake. Spreading the word about not spreading germs has been the Center for Disease Control’s m.o. with the usual suspects making the rounds – wash your hands like you’re prepping for surgery, cover your sneezes and coughs, and no more licking foreign objects (I added one of these myself). A Google search of “swine flu” yielded no less than 38 million results in .15 seconds. There’s apparently a little bit of information out there. Local schools and health departments have been beating the drum as well, and rightfully so.
Driving to work one recent morning, I noticed that a particularly stubborn oak leaf was hanging on to my windshield wiper for dear life (even though it was already dead). Then I noticed a simple magnet fixed to the back of a school resource pick-up truck with a simple message – Have Questions About Swine Flu? Call 704-854-H1N1. It was simple. It was relatively inexpensive. And, with more messages vying for our attention on television, radio, the Web, cell phones or a number of other viral (pause for groaning to cease) mediums, this message was remarkably simple. There it was, thankfully instead of a tissue, right under my nose.
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