PORCH PONDERINGS

Plague Year Journal

I was looking through my books yesterday and come across a curious little book. "A Journal of the Plague Year" by Daniel Defoe. It was written in the 1700's about the bubonic plague in England in the 1600's. As we all should know, the bubonic plague was spread by rats infected by fleas. The fleas bit people and so the infection spread. But then it spread from person to person by coughing and sneezing, much like the Corona virus.

This plague, the Black Death, killed 60% of the population at that time. Heck of a deal. Makes this virus seem minor. We have conquered the plague around the world, there are very few outbreaks of it now. I saw there are a few cases every now and then. But we have no idea about this current nemesis. We have no idea what will happen with this killer. Since it is new, will it keep on killing? Will it come back once it dies down?

Unknown how all this will play out. The new normal is yet to be established. It will be curious to see how this all plays out. And it will also be curious how we, as writers, sift it all out and record it for history. Just like Defoe did it for his journal.

Write on!