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Hope, Superspreaders & Symbolic Names

2020 October 2
by Mike Vial

I woke up from a leg cramp at 3:20 AM, and I read the news on my iPhone. I predict I won’t fall back asleep; I also predict the second debate isn’t happening on October 15.

Am I dreaming?

No, I’m pondering how, in great literature, names contain symbolism*: Mercutio from Romeo & Juliet, Mercy from The Crucible, Raskolnikov from Crime & Punishment, Pilate Dead in Song of Solomon…
Like Pandora’s Box being opened in the Greek myth, this unbelievable soap opera of 2020 has given us Hope.

I hope everyone sick recovers, and we now take testing even more seriously. I hope this is a moment where we think of students and teachers preparing for a long winter in windowless classrooms, hoping that no one gets sick when their schools can’t order HEPA filters now that they are backordered.

Hope leads to responsibility and actions.

Note, we are learning how super spreaders play an essential role in Coronavirus’s infection rates. The R0 of this day’s news will follow that trend. I hope I am wrong.

*other literary device terms pondered: charactonym, aptronym, foreshadowing, irony, and OMG.
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