The great Swine Flu Scare of 2009 is winding down, and life will return to normal at St. Francis Prep. But who knew the school on Francis Lewis Boulevard would become the center of the world’s, yes the world’s, attention?
Everyone in Queens should be proud of the way the students of Prep handled themselves in the constant glare of the media spotlight, and at the hands of intrusive reporters, this one included. At least one girl, 15-year-old Nicole Andrle, climbed out of bed and allowed us to interview her (she insisted she was feeling better!). If only some of our public officials did as well.
For example, our Vice President Joe Biden warned Americans to stay away from planes and subways and crowded spaces. Unless you work in the fields, that’s just about everywhere. Biden’s office backtracked and insisted he was only talking about travel to Mexico, as if the E and the F stopped in Mexico City!
Biden is known to mouth off and say stupid things, but its mind-boggling that someone who’s been in the United States Senate nearly four decades has no filter on the words that come out of his mouth!
President Obama offered Biden the choice of either being Vice President or Secretary of State. How lucky he picked the Veep job. Could you imagine this guy in a “diplomatic” setting?
City and state officials from the governor to the mayor to the health commissioner have been pitch-perfect, properly warning but not terrifying the public.
The terrifying part was left to the geniuses at the World Health Organization, who warned of an “imminent pandemic.” True, we may not be out of the woods yet. Experts say this may only be part one of a vicious one-two punch. In 1918, there was mild flu outbreak in the spring, followed by the deadly wave that swept the world in the fall.
But I will side with the optimists, who realize that medically we’ve come a long way in 91 years.
So for now let us take this time to tip our hats to the kids, the students of Queens, who stepped up under difficult circumstances. Some who were barely over the flu came forward and showed the world how to act in the face of fear. Teenagers usually get a bad rap. Not this time. We salute you!
You could all grow up to be, at the very least, Vice President of the United States!
