I'm Under Attack!

I am being assaulted. Right now. I feel as though I'm being beaten up. My head hurts. My nose itches. My eyes are watering. I'm coughing every few minutes, and when I do, my chest hurts. My head (did I mention it hurts?) feels twice as heavy as it normally does. I feel hot and cold at the same time. I am miserable! And this is after taking drugs to feel better!

What did I do to deserve this abuse? I went to my doctor for a routine checkup on Monday, one week ago. I'm sure that's when they picked me up, the ones who are attacking me. At the doctor's office I noticed several people who looked sick, you know, coughing, sniffling, just generally looking like I feel now. I've got brains, I can put two and two together. I'm pretty sure that's when they climbed aboard and started to work on me.

Those stinking germs! I hate them! But they did get me thinking. They got me thinking about the idea that we humans are at the top of the food chain, that we have no natural enemies, that we've got the rest of the species on the planet under our thumb. Well, right now I feel like I'm the one being squished. We don't have things under our thumb at all. We do have a natural enemy. Many of them, in fact.

The fact of the matter is that this natural world is a tough, mean, pitiless place. The only creatures that show any mercy at all are us. The viruses that have been taking over the machinery in my living cells in order to make a gazillion copies of themselves don't have any mercy in them. They only know one thing. Multiply! Then my infected cells spew huge amounts of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and in their effort to make me better, actually make me feel worse.

Are these the ravings of a befevered mind, overcome with flu? Perhaps. But my point. My point. What was my point? Oh yes, my point is that those of you who make nature out to be this gentle, nurturing thing, well, you only think that because you don't have the flu, and you haven't been attacked by a bear.

I may have to come back and delete this post when I feel better. I hope that's soon!