Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Below is a tender story, of the 1918 Spanish Flu.  A Desire to Help During the 1918 Spanish Flu By  Daris Howard  · March 17, 2020 It was 1918, and Arden, the man Rachel had been dating, was off fighting in the Great War. Rachel worked hard on the farm and in her grandfather’s store as a clerk, but there were times she felt like she wasn’t doing enough to help. Then she started seeing those around her falling ill to what had been dubbed the Spanish flu and felt she just had to do something. Some families lost more than half of their family members, while some families were so ill, they couldn’t take care of each other. Rachel approached her parents about her concerns. “You know you could catch the flu, and it might take your life?” her father said. Rachel nodded. “But if I live unscathed, and didn’t do what I could to help, I doubt I could live with myself.” Her parents understood her feelings, and they agreed to help. Rachel’s...

Coronavirus: Two Doctors’ Tips for Combating Helplessness By  Benjamin Satterfield  and  Angel Lybbert  · March 16, 2020 The following article first appeared in  Public Square Magazine . Dr. Satterfield is a Physician-Scientist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is trained in internal medicine and a specialist in molecular virology with an emphasis in emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Lybbert is board certified in family medicine with added certification in geriatric medicine. She works at Intermountain Utah Valley Senior Medicine Clinic. She has worked in assisted living facilities, VA clinics, outpatient geriatric primary care, and hospice care. The views expressed are their own. The fear around this COVID-19 pandemic is both striking and understandable. Speaking from our expertise and experience in infectious disease and geriatric medicine, we share five recommendations that might be encouraging to those who fin...

Dear Readers,      I'm including the link to the Meridian Magazine today -- where this article comes from.   https://latterdaysaintmag.com You may also like to install the app on your phone:   Church News    (it is great) There are several more great articles in Meridian today such as: Who We Are will be Revealed in the Coronavirus Crisis COVID-19: Let Us Do Our Part By  Carolyn Nicolaysen President Nelson Shares Message of Hope During COVID-19 Outbreak Staying Emotionally Healthy During a Pandemic By  Geoff Steurer I may put some of them on later in this blog.  They are all good! 5 Practical Reasons to Have Hope During  Times of Fear By  Andy Proctor  · March 15, 2020 In this time where fear is more contagious than any infection, I really want to share some reasons to be hopeful for the present and the future. The reality is tha...

If we think we have it hard, this story will help us put it into perspective. I posted this early in my blog, # 134 in fact!  You can find many stories about my mother's under "Labels", and Ruth Allen (her maiden name.)  She wrote this about when she was 10 years old.      I've included some after her story of the flu, just to give you an idea of how difficult their life was, as her mother was left a widow with 8 children.   -------------------------------------Below written by Ruth Allen ---------        I’ve heard that the flu of 1918 caused more deaths than the war did.  (World War 1) Be that as it may be, a great amount of the deaths of the soldiers was terminated “flu.”       It was  before the days of penicillin  or any other drug we use now to fight bad colds or “flu” with.  It was in Europe, and all parts of the United States and in the  entire world. ...