IN FLU ENZA

 "I had a little bird,

Its name was ENZA.

I opened the window,

And In-Flu-Enza."

I've never really been a lover of history, though I find history quite interesting. Right from time, I've always known that my brain didn't agree with the idea of keeping so many dates. I'd rather manage to know that the chemical formula for water is H2O. Well, the song at the beginning made me visit history for a minute. 

So I read a bit about World War 1(WWI), and how towards the end of the war there was a great pandemic. I'm not so good at history narration, but I'll try to summarize my findings. 

From 1918 to 1919, the world experienced a very severe influenza outbreak. The WWI was almost coming to an end and the estimated number of deaths recorded was 16 million. Just about that time, the pandemic hit hard, causing an estimated number of 50 million deaths globally, so much more than the war. The influenza outbreak is often described as the most devastating pandemic in history. 

The pandemic largely affected the young, contrary to its usual 'aged and young children' target. Cases of patients having blood and/or mucus falling off their mouths and nostrils were on the increase. Patients came down with the symptoms and within a few hours were confirmed dead. So many soldiers and workers died as a result. This had me wondering how dreadful the pandemic was if COVID-19 had such an effect on the world.

While imagining blood and mucus gushing out the mouths and nostrils of patients, suffocating and even killing some of them, I remembered a Bible passage from Ezekiel 16:6 which states "Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "LIVE"" NIV 

This passage didn't sound like a suggestion or mere statement. It was a command. This was God, passing by and watching Israel wallow in misery without hope to help themselves. All he did was to give a command, and it came to be. The verses thereafter show how He cleaned and adorned her, giving her a chance to live again. I pictured that same scene happening during the pandemic and restoring the sick back to perfect health. Such a beautiful sight. 

Dear Reader, today's blog post is just to encourage you to return to the one who can give the ultimate command to everything happening in your life, to the one who sees you wallowing in your "blood" (which can be anything) and who will say to you "LIVE" without judgment. Yes, feel free to return to him, and to also pray he reaches out to me too🤗. 

Do well to read and drop your comments. This is also me saying thank you to all of you for reading and encouraging me. Y'all keep this blog running. Thank you❤️

PS: This blog post is specially dedicated to Kamji, my coursemate and senior friend who gifted me a wonderful novel titled "Man in the Blue Moon". The idea for today's post came from that novel, and I'm grateful. When you read to this point, say a prayer for Kamji and gift me a novel too😅, my next blog post might come from there. 

PSS: Also say a word of prayer for my friends, Dyenaan and Tochi as they celebrate their birthdays today🎉.