Opening Statement from the 2020 International Virus Conference
Good morning, ladies and germs.
(Laughter from audience.)
This year we are happy to welcome our many members including SARS, Ebola, MERS, Rhino
and, of course, our favorite relative, Bubonic Plague.
We are especially proud to welcome our newest member, Coronavirus or COVID-19,
which is doing an outstanding job at wreaking havoc throughout the human world.
(Audience gives standing ovation.)
As you all know, our motto has always been “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth.”
This year we are discarding this outdated, and shall I say, condescending, adage.
We viruses have been on this planet for millions of years, if not more.
Although one of the first life forms here---
(Audience interruptions: “Yeh, and what about all the other planets we’ve inhabited? Yeh!)
You are right, we’ve never gotten the recognition we deserve.
Only the “higher forms of life” such as human beings
(Audience erupts in laughter)
get “air play.”
However, there are more important considerations now.
The planet we are occupying is dying due to human greed and stupidity.
For some of you, climate change will be a petri dish, but for others it could mean annihilation.
We will all have to decide if we want to stay here or travel on to other worlds.
I speak for the majority of us who hoped that we viruses would have put an end to all humans and have
the planet to ourselves, thus the reason why we clung to our previous motto for eons.
But we never thought about what this inherited earth would be like.
Our short-sightedness has led us to this point.
(Speaker pauses.)
Audience participant asks, “So what do we do next?”
I must leave this decision up to you, but keep in mind.
Humans have been sending spacecraft to the outer reaches of the solar system for many years.
We can just hitch a ride on any of these vehicles. Many have already done so.
Before we go to our workshops, I will leave you with this thought.
There is hope for the future. We are complex, steady, creative, brave, beautiful and resilient.
Many of us believe we have come to earth from other planets, asteroids and star stuff.
If that is true, we have already inherited the universe.
Thank you and have a great time at the conference.
(Audience gives another standing ovation.)
Connie Woodring is a 75-year-old retired psychotherapist/educator/social activist who is getting back to her true love of writing after 45 years in her real job. She has a B.A.in English from Penn State University, getting great marks from John Barth and Paul West. She has a MSS from Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. She has had 27 poems accepted for publication/published in various American and British presses, including one nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize by Dime Show Review. Three short stories which are excerpts from her yet-to-be published novel, Visiting Hours, and four articles from her yet-to-be published non-fiction book, What Power? Which People? Reflections on Power Abuse and Empowerment, have been published.