Year of the Pig

Move aside Ox, it's the year of the Pig.

Now before Chinese astrologers yell in violent protest against this post, that intro was just a construct for me to make a point.


Yup, this year the swine community is getting a very bad rap due to swine flu that's sweeping across the globe right now.

A lot of websites and blogs have been giving us updates on the outbreak as well as tons of advice on how to protect ourselves from the so called H1N1 virus. Us humans have again closed our ranks in fighting this latest threat to our existence.

As I am writing this, reports are pouring in that the spread of the virus may have been slowing down though leaving a trail of fatalities. But as they say, this too shall soon pass.

Of course, well-informed humans already know that you cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Despite this, pigs have joined the league of cattle (mad cow, foot and mouth disease) and birds (avian flu) - except for the latter, food source that could probably kill us.

Is it time for us to go vegan? Should we just leave these poor animals alone to thrive in the wild and just grow genetically-modified copies of them?

One thing's for sure, we still haven't lost our sense of humor yet amid this pretty scary scenario all because of porky. In the midst of all these, we still need to laugh, right? As the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine (pardon the metaphor ^-^).