Some lessons I learned from watching the one act play competitions with my wife who received high compliments for helping the students with coming up with costumes for their performance.

 

David Bowie's song, 'space oddities, was released just days before the Apollo 11 moon landing.

As I watched the one-act plays,  I was amazed at the talent of all the represented schools and their students.  

There was one particular school that wrote and directed a play that made you think about the subject of bullying.  They didn't win any awards, but their message made you t think.

The play centered on two young girls who were victims of a school bully who seemingly got away with his bullying until one day the classroom teacher noticed it and sent him to the school administrator's office. Although I knew this before, I was reminded once again that children with disabilities are often the victims of bullying.  

The school that did this production revealed in their program a story about the  David Bowie I never knew before. It was the encounter David Bowie had with a young man who was suspected to have Autism. 

"He told the story as if it was he'd been on an adventure back then," Magrs wrote, "and he wasn't quite allowed to tell the story. Like there was a pact, or a magic spell surrounding it. As if something profound and peculiar would occur if he broke the confidence."

Magrs asked his friend what had happened on his adventure, and the story of his magical meeting with David Bowie came spilling out:

'I was withdrawn, more withdrawn than the other kids. We all got a signed poster. Because I was so shy, they put me in a separate room, to one side, and so I got to meet him alone. He'd heard I was shy and it was his idea. He spent thirty minutes with me.

'He gave me this mask. This one. Look.

'He said: 'This is an invisible mask, you see?

'He took it off his own face and looked around like he was scared and uncomfortable all of a sudden. He passed me his invisible mask. 'Put it on,' he told me. 'It's magic.'

'And so I did.

'Then he told me, 'I always feel afraid, just the same as you. But I wear this mask every single day. And it doesn't take the fear away, but it makes it feel a bit better. I feel brave enough then to face the whole world and all the people. And now you will, too.



'I sat there in his magic mask, looking through the eyes at David Bowie and it was true, I did feel better.

'Then I watched as he made another magic mask. He spun it out of thin air, out of nothing at all. He finished it and smiled and then he put it on. And he looked so relieved and pleased. He smiled at me.

''Now we've both got invisible masks. We can both see through them perfectly well and no one would know we're even wearing them,' he said.

'So, I felt incredibly comfortable. It was the first time I felt safe in my whole life.

'It was magic. He was a wizard. He was a goblin king, grinning at me.

'I still keep the mask, of course. This is it, now. Look.'

I kept asking my friend questions, amazed by his story. I loved it and wanted all the details. How many other kids? Did they have puppets from the film there, as well? What was David Bowie wearing? I imagined him in his lilac suit from Live Aid. Or maybe he was dressed as the Goblin King in lacy ruffles and cobwebs and glitter.


What was the last thing he said to you when you had to say goodbye?

'David Bowie said, 'I'm always afraid as well. But this is how you can feel brave in the world.' And then it was over. I've never forgotten it. And years later I cried when I heard he had passed.'

My friend was surprised I was delighted by this tale.

'The normal reaction is: that's just a stupid story. Fancy believing in an invisible mask.'

But I do. I really believe in it.
And it's the best story I've heard all year."

If you want to do something to stem the increase of bullying and prevent someone you know from taking their life this CDC website has very helpful information for you. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-suicide-translation-final-a.pdf

For anyone who has ever been bullied, God loves you and has a plan for your life. How do I know? I know because of the evidence of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I know that Christ's spirit resides in my soul to keep me strong when tough times come my way.  I know that Christ is simply one prayer away from my Father in heaven who promises to remain with me regardless of what happens in this world.  It is this promise from God that everyone who calls out to his name can have for their own life. 

The CDC is finally recognizing 'natural immunity' — legislators should follow suit

 

There are now more than 65 million people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the United States. While vaccination for COVID-19 has been critically important to protect us against severe disease, hospitalizations, and death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are finally acknowledging the strong protection provided from immunity after a SARS-CoV-2 infection: so-called "natural immunity."



In the CDC report, which analyzed COVID-19 cases in California and New York in 2021 from May 30 to November 20, the scientists compared the risk of new SARS-CoV-2 infection among four groups of people: those who were unvaccinated without a prior case of COVID-19; those vaccinated without prior COVID-19; those unvaccinated with prior COVID-19 and those vaccinated with prior COVID-19.

The authors explain that before the emergence of the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, recent vaccination was more protective against new infection than natural immunity (in California during June, for example, 20.9-fold vs 8.2-fold). However, after delta became prevalent, natural immunity was more protective against infection than vaccination (in California during September, 8.3-fold vs 35.0-fold).

During the delta wave of COVID-19, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among those with "enhanced" immunity due to both vaccination and prior infection, was 32.5-fold lower in California and 19.8-fold lower in New York, whereas rates among those vaccinated alone (without prior COVID-19) were only 6.2-fold lower in California and 4.5-fold lower in New York. The rates among those with natural immunity were 29.0-fold lower in California and 14.7-fold lower in New York. The authors note that hospitalization rates followed a similar pattern.

The report finally acknowledges what many have suspected for a long time - that surviving COVID-19 provides excellent natural immunity not only repeat infection but also to hospitalization and death for the delta variant of COVID-19.

The pattern of improved protection after natural infection makes sense. It always has. That's how immunity against infections works. That is why vaccines work. The COVID-19 vaccines were developed to mimic a natural infection based on the original virus that was identified in 2019, what biologists call the "wildtype" strain of SARS-CoV-2. The vaccines, especially the commonest mRNA-based ones, use the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the protein that acts as a key to enter cells and cause infection. By blocking that entry with vaccine-induced antibodies, infection is prevented.

In contrast, during a natural infection, the human body is exposed to all parts of the virus, including the spike protein. When the immune system responds to enable recovery from the infection, it is broader and more diverse, with a greater ability to defend against any future SARS-CoV-2 virus variants. Therefore, while mutations naturally form in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein through the process of viral evolution, the targeted vaccine-based approach to attack the spike protein, while still effective, is not as robust as the armamentarium created from surviving a true infection, and most effective in combination with vaccination.

What is clear from the new CDC report over all periods is this - the worst group to be in is the nonvaccinated group without prior COVID-19. That group is the most likely to be infected, and if also at risk for severe disease - older 65 years of age, obese, chronically ill or immunocompromised - the most likely to die from an infection. Therefore, if you are in this group, please get vaccinated!

Vaccination is superior to natural infection because the risks of death or severe long-term symptoms are astronomically lower. One limitation of the CDC study was that we must await new data and research to see if there are differences in immunity due to vaccination or prior infections during this current period of the highly infectious omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. We have observed that those vaccinated, while not protected from infection, are much less likely to be hospitalized. Similarly, those who had a previous infection and remain unvaccinated are also highly protected against serious omicron disease.

Given now that CDC recognizes the protective effect of prior infection, it is time to update vaccination policies and school or work-entry requirements across federal and state or county governments. Those with natural immunity should have equal status as those vaccinated. Demonstrating a prior infection is no more difficult than demonstrating vaccination. Many European countries recognize that immunity due to prior infection is equal to vaccination.

Not exempting those with prior infection was always unfair; now it is unscientific as well.

Jeffrey Klausner, MD, MPH, is a clinical professor of Medicine, Population and Public Health Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Twitter: @DrKlausner. Noah Kojima is a senior resident in internal medicine at UCLA Health.

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As I watched an episode from 'Touched by an Angel' I discovered Jean Sibelius created some wonderful pieces called the Sad Waltz.

 

“Dancing, at its best, is independence and intimacy in balance.” “Sometimes in life confusion tends to arise and only dialogue of dance seems to make sense.” “Dance as the narration of a magical story; that recites on lips, illuminates imaginations and embraces the most sacred depths of souls.”

Touch by an Angel is one of my favorite series. Each episode is about the stories of people and the God who loves them. In one episode we meet a couple who found themselves drifting apart after the wife chose to have an abortion because it would interfere with their life's career path. The only problem was, the pain stemming from this abortion remained with the couple for 15 years.  As the wife attempted to work through the emotions of this loss, her husband was burying it down deep with the help of alcohol.  

Bitterness consumed their souls and this led to emotionally and sexually withdrawing from each other. In one of the final scenes, Monica retrieves a poem from the fireplace the wife had written for her husband in an attempt to seek forgiveness for making the decision to terminate her life without consulting him. 

 As the poem was read, her husband felt a dike breaking that was holding back his tears.  It was at that point, he apologize to her for the way he has been toward her.  This was a couple despite losing a child they never knew still madly in love with each other.  

It was at this point I learned of a composer named Sibelius who wrote what would be called the sad Waltz. Shortly after our daughter died, my wife and I got involved in a ballroom dance class where the instructors taught the men how to lead and the woman how to follow. As he explained, it is not uncommon for couples to fall out of balance with each other after the loss of a child. It is when we learn to dance as a couple that our balance is restored. I did some research on the sad waltz and this was the back story I found.
It is night. The son, who has been watching beside the bedside of his sick mother, has fallen asleep from sheer weariness, Gradually a ruddy light is diffused through the room: there is a sound of distant music: the glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distantly to our ears.


The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed and, in her long white garment, which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move silently and slowly to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests.


And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers; she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her bed and the music breaks off. Presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once more, with more energetic gestures than before.


Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold.[1]