Tuberculosis (结核病, 결핵)

I often, like most humans, lament and complain about what I don't have (a big car, a big house, a bigger bank account, a more athletic body, the ability to throw a baseball 95 MPH, etc.), but it's important to take a step back and reflect on what I do have, or to put it another way, what bad things I don't have: I don't have tuberculosis. And according to John Green and his latest work "Everything is Tuberculosis," that's definitely something to celebrate. Tuberculosis has been around for centuries and was highlighted in many famous works by Shakespeare, Jane Austen, etc., it's been very present in human life for centuries but doesn't get the top billing of other more lethal and contagious diseases like Ebola, Covid, HIV/AIDs, etc, but it's definitely there and it's definitely deadly. The most common symptom is coughing up blood and having your napkin turn red, which we're all familiar with in movies and other media, and John Green does his usual excellent job in describing all the horrors of it, including how it just decimates families and villages and whole communities of people in Africa, who suffer due to cramped living conditions (where tuberculosis can spread the fastest and most easily) and bad healthcare. I think people in the U.S. are extremely lucky tuberculosis is just not that much of a problem here (although there were some breakouts this summer as a wake-up call), so much so we don't even vaccinate for it. Let's hope that continues and that everything doesn't turn into tuberculosis like John Green's book. I recently heard that humans are still at our infancy about understanding the human body, and there's still so much go to go about understanding diseases, how they interact with the body, how the body tries to heal itself, and how everyone's body is different. So doctors don't have all the answers (just ask my mom who's going through a difficult situation with medical professionals right now), but the answers they do have have made a profound effect (vaccines, surgeries, anesthesia). I still feel like the best way to go through life is all-natural, let the body heal itself and do its thing, don't subject oneself to too many medications and being dependendant on artificial stuff. But to the extent it's needed, do rely on medical help: for childbirth, for example. I think I've become very naive and complacent about diseases: I've never once had a surgery, had to use anesthesia, had any broken limbs/arms, never had to go to a hospital except to visit others. Never had to worry about tuberculosis. It's almost like my parents just wished upon a healthy baby and put all their energy in giving birth to a health kid, and I was the beneficiary of all those well wishes I feel like I have a circle of protection around me (not to say I'm invincible and I like to think I drive cars to maximize safety and make sure I don't test the physical limits of that circle of protection). I think every parent probably wants that for a child and it's one of the No. 1 things that they prioritize (MJ might prioritize being pretty and cute over this), but it's health for me. Just be healthy, be free from disease, be able to live like I have, pain-free. But of course the baby will get sick in the first few years, like all the time, is what I've heard, because they have the immune system......of a baby, it hasn't been tested and it's prone to everything. So I'm anticipating some really bad grossness and being sick a lot....one of the things that has probably kept my relationship with MJ alive is that I don't get sick very often and don't really get her sick, so we're both relatively healthy most of the time (except those Covid bouts everyone had to get over)......that's about to be tested with the arrival of a baby. As long as it's not tuberculosis!