Chapter 89 Reading "The Plague" During the SARS Period

Read during the SARS period Feng Tang Before April, the SARS virus was like a computer virus, only spread randomly on the Internet.In the market, the songs are sung, the dances are danced, and the horses are run.At that time, I was working on a project in Shenzhen. The client printed out the rumors from the Internet and asked, you used to be a doctor. Is this disease true?Does banlangen and vinegar fumigation work?I said, first, I used to be a gynecologist and specialized in ovarian cancer; second, the description on the Internet sometimes said it was fecal-oral transmission, sometimes said it was blood-borne, and sometimes said it was airborne, at least it was a rumor; third. , Isatis root and vinegar fumigation are not specific, almost like lying to yourself.The customer was still very excited to snap up Banlangen and white vinegar. After a while, he excitedly told me that Banlangen and white vinegar were out of stock. After a while, he excitedly told me that a neighbor was poisoned by drinking preventive medicine, and smoked to death with white vinegar. up.

After April, the SARS virus seemed to be blown up by the wind, and it was everywhere: on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, on the walls of the street, and of course the Internet.The most surprising thing is that there is a radio van in the community. I haven’t seen it for more than 20 years. Every afternoon: "Ten Measures for SARS Prevention and Control". Really. I can't go to Shenzhen anymore, "Heaven and Earth" is closed, "Cash Box" is closed, "A 55th" is empty, the boiled fish is closed, the gym is closed, the Internet cafe is closed, "Sanlian Bookstore" has enough disinfectant People choked into mummies, and the blind massage master ran back to his hometown in the dark.

So close the door, so read, so reread Camus. The story happened in 1941 in a small town in North Africa: Oran.A plague came inexplicably, and after raging for some time, it left inexplicably.How does a doctor named Bernard Rieux and his comrades face death. All strangely similar. "On the morning of April 16, Dr. Bernard Rieux came out of his clinic kicking a dead rat in the middle of the stairs." Also April. After that, it also went through several stages of shock, denial, anger and depression. After the shock, the most obvious thing was denial: "Rat? It's not a big deal." "But the city government didn't plan at all, and didn't think about any measures at all. It just held a meeting to discuss it first." "Richard He thinks he has no right to do this. The only thing he can do is to report to the governor." "Each doctor only has two or three cases. In fact, as long as anyone thinks of adding these figures, the total number will be astonishing."

Then anger and depression: "Bernar Rieux read the official telegram handed to him by the Prefect and said: 'They are afraid!' The telegram read: 'Plague is officially declared. Close the city." "But At this moment, the plague left them with nothing to do but walk around the gloomy city, wallowing in depressing memories day after day." "Thus, what the plague brought to the citizens The first effect is the feeling of exile." Communication was also involved. There was no GSM at that time, and telegrams were used, which is equivalent to the current text message: "People's long-term common life or sorrowful emotions can only be briefly summarized in a few ready-made formulas exchanged regularly, for example: 'Hi, miss you. Love you.' and so on".

Also mentioned Guangzhou: "Seventy years ago in Guangzhou, before the epidemic spread to the residents, 40,000 rats died of the plague. However, in 1871, there was no way to count the rats, it was just an approximate number." There were also panic buying, hoarding, heavy drinking (because it was claimed that "alcoholic alcohol has antiseptic properties"), and mints ("the pharmacies were sold out of mints because many people put them in their mouths to prevent infection. ").There are also long holidays, there are also quarantines, and there are also police and military involved.Trade also came to a halt (“All shops are closed, but a few have signs ‘Closed for plague’”) and tourism (“It will be a long time after the plague is over before travelers will Visit the city, this plague has destroyed tourism."), and sex is also corrupt ("There are some young men and women who walk through the streets, and in them you can feel the growing desire to live in the midst of catastrophe.").

If everything is similar (which is impossible, of course), on January 25 of the following year, "the province declares that the plague can be regarded as over." "On a fine February morning, at dawn, the city gate finally open." It is said that it can be read from multiple angles (like the current SARS, there is also the "White Angel" version on TV, the pan-political version of "Towards a Healthy Country" by Economic Watch, and the ghost version of "God Bless China" by 21st Century Business Herald), Even read five of the six tenets of existentialism.I don't know why things become complicated once they become famous.The lobsters in the big basket scale in Maine, USA, have to eat three, four, and five lobsters when they arrive in the "downwind".The girl hanging up on the street becomes Su Xiaoxiao, who must pay attention to the "four to", "five desires", "seven losses", "eight benefits", "nine qi", "ten movements", and "seventy-two styles".I hate complexity, especially when there are many things to do.The lobster is still eaten raw, which is more delicious than the vermicelli.Going to bed is still face-to-face, without hindering communication between people.

The same goes for classics.I only read two things: 1. Life under threat of death.Camus's descriptions are cool, scientific, and tedious, as if a doctor were writing a medical record: "Sleep and exhaustion, redness of spectacles, foul mouth, headache, buboitis, thirst in Christ, delirium, spots on the body, a feeling of tearing in the body, His pulse became weak, and he died suddenly after a slight movement of the body." 2. Unavoidable disasters and people's helplessness, wisdom, and patience in the face of such disasters. These two points are highlighted in the dialogue and confrontation between Bernard Rieux and Father Paneloux.This kind of quarrel and stinky poverty are very attractive to me, and there are similar quarrels between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu in the first 30 episodes, and between John Newman, a Scottish missionary in Gefeili, and the chief abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet. Cowhide.

Bernard Rieux did not believe in God, but Father Paneloux believed in God. When the plague just broke out, Father Paneloux delivered the first sermon: "My brothers, you are suffering, my brothers, you deserve it." Strike against the enemies of God. Pharaoh disobeyed the will of God and the plague brought him to his knees. Plagues from God have brought the arrogant and the blind to his feet, as has always been the case throughout history. Consider this. Kneel down." Bernard Rieux, a simple atheist, experienced helplessness the most: "Have you ever heard a woman cry 'I don't want to die' when she was dying? But I saw and heard it." "As a doctor, facing It's a never-ending string of failures."

What Bernard Rieux, a naive atheist, then did was to know what was impossible: "Since the law of nature stipulates that death is the end, God may prefer that people do not believe in him, and would rather let people fight death as hard as possible without having to fight death." Keep your eyes on the blue sky, where the voice of God cannot be heard." "The plague is like any other misery in the world, and what is true of all misery in this world applies to it. It may elevate some, but seeing Only a madman, a blind man, or a coward would bend the knee to the plague for the suffering it brings us." "A priest should first take care of the suffering, and then try to prove that suffering is a good thing." "If I believe that God is omnipotent , I will no longer go to the doctor, and let God take care of it."

Father Paneloux later saw a child die of the plague with a painful death.He couldn't explain why children deserve what they deserve.On a blustery day the priest delivered a second sermon.His point was not to try to find an explanation for what happened to the plague, but to try to get something out of it.The priest didn't take advantage of the low-hanging fruit, such as the eternal bliss of heaven waiting for the little boy.He said without fear to those who came to hear him that day: "My brothers, the time has come to decide. Believe all or not. But who among you dare not believe all?"

Later the priest also got the plague, and he just said: "If a priest wants to see a doctor, there must be something contradictory." I remembered when I was in medical school, an old professor of internal medicine said to us: "Don't think that modern medicine is omnipotent. Even a small pneumonia will come back." When he said this, it was ten years ago, behind his glasses , I saw an instant flash of light.After that, there are those correct but boring preaching: viruses are always there, not everyone has it, just like beautiful girls are always there, not everyone is tempted. "So, to be a person, you must learn to be in awe, and you must do something and not do it. Do things as if you are facing an abyss and walking on thin ice." I think this also applies to people with four legs who eat everything but benches.