So are You
Today, headlines are littered with talk about those who have yet to test positive for COVID-19. Less than one percent of Americans can claim to have stayed COVID free since 2019 according to NBC News and others. Well, I am one of those one percenters. I am special, but I don’t feel that way.
Remember last election cycle, when being a one-percenter meant you were some elitist prick with so much money you’d lost touch with reality? Well, while I embrace my unique rarity as a one-percenter, I disassociate myself from that more popular category.
So I haven’t caught COVID, so what? Neither has my daughter. My wife’s had it, and missed out trip to Disney because of it. This summer we’ve traveled to three national parks. None of us wears a (pointless) mask when we go out in public. However, if we are in a public space that requires masks (hospitals, public transportation, etc.) we put one on and make no fuss. My point is, my not catching COVID is not due to some exclusive regimen, but by the luck of the draw or heavenly providence or awesome T cells or whatever. It is not due to some rigid regimen or any particular effort.
I’m not that special even if the news says I am.
You’re special. We all are.
Bill Bryson opens his seminal book A Short History of Nearly Everything with a brief description of how special each of us is. Of how, on an atomic level, the organization and orientation of stuff that has become you and me has never happened before and will never happen again. It can’t. It’s impossible.
While we are all unique, we are also the same, connected by a genetic similarity that means any two of us anywhere on this planet share 99.99% of the same DNA. That’s what makes us all human.
My specialness as a guy who has yet to test positive for COVID is as special as the girl who has yet to eat a Popsicle or the Italian American who hasn’t eaten pasta. Or the author on the bestseller list. (Sigh) Yeah, the odds are about the same.
