The holiday season is quickly approaching and many of us are preparing for this joyous time of the year. Some may embrace the holidays with cheer, hope, and thanksgiving while others may embrace the season with burden, anxiety, and personal failure. This article addresses three ways you can overcome anxiety and depressed mood during the holidays.

The first and most effective way to avoid anxiety and depressed mood is to recognize unachievable and unrealistic expectations (unhealthy thoughts) that you may subscribe to. Our thoughts have a direct bearing over our emotional disposition and the consequences that occur in the aftermath. We often cannot change circumstances (situations, events, and the behavior of others) that occur in our lives but we do have the power to alter the way we feel and react to them by simply changing the way we think. If we would like to avoid experiencing anxiety and depressed mood during the holidays, we must take ownership and control over our own thoughts by identifying unhealthy thoughts that we may subscribe to that might be contributing to a negative emotional disposition and replace them with healthier ones.

Some may fear social rejection and judgment from others. Though others may choose to judge negatively, pondering on this thought can ultimately rob you of experiencing joy and happiness. The following are six common unachievable and unrealistic expectations (unhealthy thoughts) that are often pondered on during the holidays:

1. “I need to spend a lot of money on gifts otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” – It is a shame that so much worry is attributed from the issue of money especially during the holidays. We should not feel or be made to feel that the holidays are all about external/physical gifts. The most precious gift that we can give to one another is our fellowship and love (internal gifts). No external/physical gift can replace this. Internal gifts have a longer shelf life and increase our self-esteem more than external/physical gifts.  We must keep this issue in the proper perspective otherwise we can inadvertently teach others that external/physical gifts are more precious and desirable than our fellowship and love.

2. “For gatherings, my home must always be clean and tidy otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” – It is never okay to invite guests to a filthy home. But expecting your home to be constantly tidy might be an unrealistic expectation, especially when children are present. Expecting such would only cause you anxiety and depressed mood. Do not worry about the cleanliness of your home but rather focus on fellowship as this is much more important and significant.

3. “I must prepare a flawless meal for my gathering otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” – The quality of meals should not be the main focus of the holidays. If food preparation is an issue, there is nothing wrong with purchasing meals from a restaurant. To go one step further, having a potluck might be a better and less expensive idea as your guests would be directly involved with the food preparation by offering a variety of foods at your gathering freeing up time for fellowship.

4. “My physical appearance must be acceptable and appropriate otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” – Aside from daily hygiene, do not worry about your physical appearance. The fellowship that you can give to one another is much more important than your physical appearance. More times than not, our own anxiety over our physical appearance has more to do with how we feel about ourselves rather than how others may perceive us.

5. “I need to bring a mate to the gathering otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” – If you are single, sometimes attending a gathering by yourself where couples are present might make you feel uncomfortable as you might feel that you do not fit in. Keep in mind that you are not alone as there are many people that are divorced, separated, or single. If having a mate was a prerequisite for gatherings, I guarantee you that there would be a lot less gatherings!  In addition, avoiding gatherings would only rob you of the experience of possibly meeting a potential mate.

6. “I need to pretend that I am happy during gatherings otherwise I might be perceived negatively by others” - Experiencing happiness is not a prerequisite for attending gatherings. Oftentimes, life events and experiences that have nothing to do with the holidays may play a direct role in your emotional disposition. The wonderful thing about gatherings is that there are plenty of people that you can talk with. If someone asks you how you are doing or feeling, be honest with them and let them know. Do not tell them that everything is fine when it is not. Oftentimes, having someone to discuss your problems with might actually help you resolve them as well as make you feel better. Take advantage of this opportunity.

If there are any other unhealthy thoughts that you might be dealing with that are not discussed in this article, I encourage you to write those thoughts down on a piece of paper writing a healthier thought (one that you would like to subscribe to) next to it. It would also be a good idea for you to review these thoughts daily so that it becomes easier to recognize and replace unhealthy thoughts.

The second way to avoid anxiety and depressed mood is to establish personal and professional goals for yourself. There is a lot to be said for New Year’s resolutions. Establishing short and long-term goals is a healthy idea because they can provide you with structure by giving you something to look forward to. Goals oftentimes give meaning to our lives. Those who do not have goals often feel hopeless and helpless. Just make sure that the goals that you establish are significant and achievable otherwise they will not be effective or worth your while to achieve.

And finally, the third way to avoid anxiety and depressed mood is to work at giving to others. Sometimes we are fooled into believing that happiness is achieved through the gifts that we receive or the items that we purchase. Just the opposite is true. You can achieve true happiness by helping others in need, volunteering your services, holding the hand of one in despair, or just simply being there when one experiences a low moment in his/her life. Oftentimes, it is not the words that we say that lifts one’s spirit or gives one hope. But rather, it is just being there that makes all the difference in the world. At times, we feel uncomfortable because we do not know the right words to say to those who are hurting. Words are not always important. The fellowship and the love that you can provide is what the holidays are all about. Let’s not lose this perspective and let’s not give unhealthy thoughts, with all the anxiety and depressed mood that goes along with them, the ability to rob us from experiencing the joy and the happiness that we all deserve to experience during the holidays. Happy holidays to all!

About the Author

Mark Lakewood, CEO of Building Strong Families National Seminars, http://www.StrongFamilies.us, is a distinguished bullying prevention expert, author, and speaker with over 20 years of clinical experience as a family therapist.  Mr. Lakewood facilitates seminars on family and school-related issues. He facilitates the “Standing Up To Bullying” Conference, http://www.StandingUpToBullyingConference.com and the Sudden Compliance Program Webinar Series, http://www.SuddenComplianceWebinars.com.

From Sox Vs. Stripes

A few years back, a colleague asked me why Jewish ballplayers won’t play on Yom Kippur, but do play on Rosh Hashanah.

He knew the story about Sandy Koufax refusing to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series for the Dodgers because it fell on Yom Kippur. What he didn’t know about was Hank Greenberg.

Most people don’t know about Greenberg’s story and it’s a shame. It’s one of the more important stories in baseball history, one filled with courage and heroism.

It’s also one that many would say helped set the stage for Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier in 1947.

No, Greenberg was not the first Jewish ballplayer. There had been dozens of Jewish players long before him. But Greenberg was the sport’s first Jewish superstar — though that may not be an apt-enough description.

Within baseball, there are Hall of Famers and then there is the Pantheon of Immortals: Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, DiMaggio, Cy Young, Mays, etc.

Greenberg is part of that latter, exclusive group.

Greenberg played from 1933 to 1947, losing four years to World War II when he enlisted for military service even though he was exempt under U.S. Government guidelines.

His career numbers for that short span are amazing: .313 batting average, 331 homers, 1,276 RBI, .412 on-base percentage and .605 slugging percentage.

His best seasons rank among the greatest in the history of the game.

He hit 58 homers in 1938, which stood as the highest home run total between Babe Ruth’s 60 in 1927 and Roger Maris‘ 61 in 1961.

He drove in 183 runs in 1937, one shy of Lou Gehrig’s record set in 1931.

He won the AL MVP in 1935 and ‘40 and led the Detroit Tigers to World Series titles in 1935 and ‘45 and AL pennants in ‘34 and ‘40.

He was one of the game’s greats.

But it wasn’t easy, not by a longshot.

Greenberg grew up in an Orthodox home in the Bronx, N.Y., the son of Jewish immigrants. Like many Jewish kids, including those growing up today, he struggled assimilating into U.S. culture, but ultimately found his comfort zone through sports.

Through hard work, he overcame some clumsiness to become a good first baseman — good enough to draw attention from several major league teams.

Greenberg received a contract offer from the Yankees, but turned it down because of some guy named Gehrig who played first. The Senators also wanted him, but Greenberg said no — you know what they said about Washington: “First in war. First in peace. Last in the American League.”

Greenberg tried out for the Giants, but Jon McGraw, who was desperate to find a Jewish superstar to boost sagging attendance, declined. Oops!

Ultimately Greenberg signed with the Tigers in 1929 for $9,000.

But it was not easy to be a Jewish ballplayer at that time. Anti-Semitism was rampant both in the game in the world as a whole.

While playing in the Texas League in 1932, teammate Jo-Jo White slowly walked around Greenberg, just staring at him. Greenberg asked White what he was looking at. White responded that he had never seen a Jew before. Greenberg let White look a while longer before asking if he saw anything interesting. White, who was looking for horns, responded, “You’re just like everyone else.”

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Not even close.

Bench jockeying in the majors at that time was vicious with players uttering the most vile, racist and degrading comments in a crude and unsportsmanlike effort to unnerve their opponents.

The catcalls were brutal and the Cardinals were particularly merciless in the 1934 World Series.

But Greenberg wasn’t necessarily one to just turn the other cheek.

According to one story, Greenberg eventually became so fed up with the razzing he was taking from the Chicago White Sox that he took on the entire team himself, challenging anyone who dared to yell an epithet, “If you got a gut in your body, you’ll stand up.”

No one did. Greenberg, afterall, was 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and a large man.

Teammate Birdie Tebbetts once suggested no one in the history of baseball other than Jackie Robinson was ever more abused than Greenberg. But I’d be remiss if I did not mention the abuse Lary Doby suffered through, which was no less brutal that what Robinson had to endure.

But it wasn’t just on the field where things were difficult for Greenberg. It was the 1930s and the world was a dangerous place for Jews.

By 1933, Adolph Hitler had assumed power as Germany’s chancellor and had begun to systematically strip Jews of their citizenship and rights, eventually leading to Krystallnact in 1938 and the start of the Holocaust.

But even in the U.S., anti-Semitism was growing, especially in the Detroit area, where Father Charles Coughlin and Henry Ford were powerful personalities, blaming Jews for everything from the Great Depression to the Russian Revolution, while singing the praises of Hitler, Nazism and fascism.

At first Greenberg struggled with being known as a Jewish ballplayer, wanting instead to be known simply as a great player.

Eventually Greenberg’s heritage became as strength as he realized that with every homer he struck, every game he won, every championship he captured, he also struck a blow against the stereotypes and garbage being spewed by the Hitlers, Fords, and Coughlins of the world — much as Jesse Owens stuck a blow against Der Fuhrer’s racial theories in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

But early in his career, Greenberg faced a difficult decision. It was 1934 and the Tigers were in the heat of a pennant race as September rolled around — an along with it came the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

In secular parlance, these are the holiest days of the Jewish year — though every rabbi will say that title belongs to the Sabbath. Traditionally Jews spend those days in synagogue praying during a period that is marked with reflection, repentance and reconciliation of sins committed throughout the previous year.

So Greenberg, who had long drifted from his parents’ orthodoxy, was faced with a difficult choice: honor his faith or fulfill his commitment to his team.

There was no easy answer. There was no clearcut choice.

The topic was debated in papers throughout the country and Greenberg consulted rabbis, friends and his team.

Manager Mickey Cochrane told Greenberg that the issue was a personal matter that he must decide for himself. That Cochrane was a wise man.

Rabbis offered three rulings:

• One allowed Greenberg to play on Rosh Hashanah, citing a passage from the Talmud that the holiday was happy day and children played in the streets of Jerusalem. Yom Kippur, though, was off limits.
• The second allowed Greenberg to play on Rosh Hashanah on the condition that only Kosher food be sold and no Orthodox Jews attend the game.
• The third said no rabbi was in position to tell Greenberg what he should do. This was a decision he had to make for himself.

It’s not clear how much influence the rabbis had, but ultimately Greenberg struck his own compromise: He’d play on Rosh Hashanah, but not on Yom Kippur.

But it wasn’t an easy compromise. He was not at all at peace with the decision.

“Finally I decided I would play,” Greenberg recalled. “But I don’t mind telling you I was upset mentally and at heart when I went into that game. Some divine influence must have caught hold of me that day.”

Greenberg hit two homers on Rosh Hashanah and the Tigers beat the Red Sox, 2-1.

Ten days later was Yom Kippur, but by that time the Tigers had seized control of the American League. Greenberg missed the game and went to synagogue, where he received a standing ovation from the congregation.

The Tigers lost to the Yankees that day, 5-3.

The next day Greenberg returned and homered as the Tigers locked up the pennant.

And in the process, he won over his critics and inspired Edgar Guest to pen the poem, “Speaking of Greenberg:”

Greenberg never faced the dilemma again in his career. He played in nine Rosh Hashanah games, going 11-for-33 with six homers and 13 RBI, and sat on seven Yom Kippurs, including Game 6 of the 1935 World Series, though he did have an injured wrist.

Greenberg, in the process, set an example for generations of Jews who followed, including Koufax, on how to balance faith and assimilation. That doesn’t mean Jews no longer struggle with that balance. It’s a constant battle with no right answers except that which feels right to the individual making it.

Greenberg also laid down the blueprint for staring down, overcoming and defeating those who would spew hate, racism and ignorance.

He was a great ballplayer who should not only be remembered for his accomplishments on the field, but for all he had to endure as well.

Friday was the first night of Rosh Hashanah. To everyone celebrating: Shana Tovah — Happy New Year.

Fran Merida is the latest youngster to be added to the Arsenal squad, being given squad number 46 for this season. He is over the moon to be finally given his place in the first team and refused a loan move to Levante this summer so that he can try and become a first team fixture in Arsene Wenger’s squad.

But where did he come from?

He is often compared to Cesc Fabregas, and the similarities are numerous. He joined Arsenal from Barcelona when he was 17, but with a little less controversy than Fabregas as he hadn’t signed a contract with the Catalan club. He was also brought to Arsenal’s attention by the agent Diaz, who also represents Cesc.

In fact, Fabregas himself, when visiting his old home (now occupied by Merida) with a reporter, saw Fran coming down the stairs looking dishevelled and said: “That was me a few years ago.”

This comment may turn out to have a lot of truth in it, as he seems to be preparing to join Fabregas in the Arsenal midfield.

But Merida was also taken to court for compensation for his training at Barcelona, and was ordered to pay a massive 3.2m euros in compensation to Barcelona for breaking a “pre-contract agreement”. He is, of course, appealing the ruling. This state of affairs was brought about by the anomaly of the laws in England, where a youngster can sign a professional contract in 17, while in Spain they have to wait until they are 18.

So Merida signed as he passed his 17th birthday and was installed in Wenger’s League Cup team for the 2007/08 season, where he made four substitute appearances before being loaned to Real Sociedad at Xmas, for the second half of the season. He made 14 appearances for them and scored just the one goal.

A new improved contract was given to Merida just after his 18th birthday, and his future at Arsenal was confirmed by Wenger.

He was made a first-team squad member this season and appeared in both the Emirates Cup games, as well as the pre-season game in Valencia. He then made his first official appearance of the season as a sub against West Brom and again at Portsmouth when he replaced Arshavin for the last 20 minutes.

Despite being only 19, Merida has appeared for the Spain international side at all ages up to the U21’s, and was named in the Top Ten Stars of the Future at the UEFA U19 Championships, and is hotly tipped to become a regular full Spanish International in the future.

In an interview with the official Arsenal website today, Merida explained why he refused another loan offer this summer as he is keen to break into the first team here at the Emirates.

“I am 100 per cent staying.” he said.

“It is true that I had an option to go out on loan but me, the boss, my agent and my family decided that the best thing for me is to stay here.

“The boss told me he believes in me and the only thing I can do now is prove it on the pitch and repay that faith.

“My target is to help as much as possible to get trophies. I truly believe we have a fantastic chance. We have started well, we must keep that going because we haven’t done anything yet.”

That interview was just after he played in reserve team fixture, and he showed his dedication to playing time, whether it is in the first team or the reserves.

“Everytime you get the chance to play in the Reserves it is good because you keep your match fitness,” he continued.

“I know Neil has confidence in me and if he tells me to play for the Reserves I am more than happy.

“Personally it’s just about training hard, taking any chances I am given and doing my best for the team. Hopefully the season can be great for Arsenal.”

If he carries on the way he is going, he could yet be a big part in Arsenal’s push for trophies this season, and maybe Spain’s as well in the future.

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Child bullying is a big problem in our schools today.  The main difference between child bullying today from the past is the nature of the bullying and the violence that occurs in the aftermath.  Cyberbullying is becoming a popular and more destructive form of bullying than traditional bullying.  More children today are bringing guns to school to seek revenge on others.  Child bullying has been around and will probably remain for years to come.  Unfortunately, we do not have the power to rid the world of bullying.  The answer to the issue of child bullying rests within us, especially the victims of bullying.  Victims of bullying are never responsible for being bullied.  On the contrary, victims of child bullying have the power in themselves to think, behave, and react in ways that limits or eradicates bullying.  As a society, we spend much of our energy identifying and punishing the bully that we fail to spend adequate time empowering the victims of child bullying.  We should spend more of our energy on the things that we can control rather than the things that we have limited or no control over.  We need to teach children about the power that they already possess.  Let me elaborate on a few issues that parents should teach their children regarding bullying prevention.

Let’s first talk about the characteristics of child bullying.  Typically, bullies and their victims share the same characteristic – low self-esteem.  It just depends on whether they internalize or externalize their feelings that will determine if they will become a bully or a victim of bullying.  Typically, negative situations and events in the child’s life can trigger low self-esteem.  Externalizing feelings can cause some children to become bullies as they attempt to control their environment to compensate for their lack of control in their family.  For instance, if the parents of a child are divorcing and the child is very upset about the divorce, he/she might feel powerless in his/her ability to keep his/her parents together.  As a result, the child might take out his/her rage on others for purposes of seeking control to compensate for his/her lack of control over their parents’ impending divorce.

Given the same scenario (parental divorce), some children internalize their feelings by not talking or acting out how they feel.  Instead, they become depressed and withdrawn feeling like a failure.  Often, they develop a negative image of themselves and their physical appearance.  They look at others and the world around them with shaded lens.  When a bully validates this child’s feelings about him/herself, this child often reacts negatively to the validation because he/she feels the bully is correct in their interpretation.

Often times, children with high self-esteem do not respond negatively to bullies because they already know that negative personal statements made by the bully are untrue and therefore are unworthy of attention.

As human beings, our behavior, thoughts, and feelings are never dictated or controlled by others, situations, and events unless we allow this to occur.  Simply said, others, situations, and events can trigger a reaction based on what we think.  For example, if I do not want to go to work today and my car has a flat tire, I might experience happiness because I do not want to go to work.  On the other hand given the same event (flat tire), I might want to go to work today to take care of some unfinished business.  Because the flat tire might delay or eliminate my chances of getting to work, this situation might cause me anger.  How could the same event in both situations cause two different feelings?  It was not the event at all that triggered the feelings.  It was what I thought about the event that triggered my feelings.  Therefore, manipulating the way we think can alter how we feel.  We have the power to take ownership and control over our thoughts.  We however have limited or no control over specific events, situations, and the behavior of others.  Sometimes, we attempt to control events, situations, and others but become frustrated when our attempts fail.

Now, how does the paragraph above apply to the issue of bullying prevention?  The main goal of bullies is to get their victims to experience fear, anger, or sadness.  Once their victim demonstrates signs of these emotions via the words he/she says, body language, or actions, the bully has complete and total control over him/her.  The bullying will continue until the victim no longer verbally and/or physically displays fear, anger, or sadness in response to the bullying.  The bullying will end once the victim responds the opposite of what the bully expects.

How do we get children to react the opposite of what the bully expects?  This is where role-playing comes in handy.  Parents should regularly sit down with their children helping them learn to react the opposite of what bullies expect.  Often times, this task is much easier when the parent knows what hurtful words or phrases bullies say that makes their children feel fearful, angry, or sad.  Using these hurtful words and/or phrases in role-plays will emotionally prepare children when they are approached by bullies.

It is also important to teach children that they have the power to change or affect the agenda of bullies by the words they use. For instance, if a bully calls a child ‘stupid’, the child could defuse the bullying by stating to the bully, “That’s nice”, “How about that”, “Oh, well”, and so forth.  The worst thing that the child could do is respond by telling the bully that he/she is stupid or make other negative statements.  A negative response will only inflame the situation encouraging further bullying.

In addition, parents should teach and role-play with their children specific forms of body language that differentiates a child with high self-esteem from a child with low self-esteem.  Body language communicates feelings more so than spoken words.  If a child yells at a bully stating that he/she is not bothered by the bully’s behavior, the bully knows that the child is bothered because of the yelling.  Lack of eye contact, looking down, slouched posture, lack of hygiene, and low tone of voice can be viewed as symptoms of low self-esteem.

Parents need to teach their children that bullies rarely get angry at them.  Bullies are typically angry at themselves and/or events that occurred or are occurring in their own life for which they have limited or no control.  Bullies indirectly take out their anger on the ones they could easily control.

Parents should never teach their children to physically fight back when approached by a bully.  The problem with fighting back is that children can get themselves into trouble for engaging in physically assaultive behavior.  Think of it this way – bullies rarely throw the first punch.  They always entice their victim into throwing the first punch.  This way when they are asked who started the fight, the bully could easily and truthfully state that their victim started it.  In addition, there are significant legal ramifications that can arise as a result of physically assaultive behavior.

It is important to remember that physical violence typically occurs after a negative verbal interaction.  Violence typically is provoked and rarely unprovoked.  Therefore to avoid violence, the conflict can and should be defused during the verbal exchange.  This is why the words victims say and their body language are so significant and detrimental to the outcome of bullying.  Recent school shootings suggest that the shooters were bullied by their classmates.  The bullying subsequently provoked the school violence.

Parents should be cautious when teaching their children to ignore bullies.  The problem with ignoring is that the bully knows that his/her behavior is irritating, annoying, and controlling his/her victim.  Therefore, the bullying will continue.

Parents should be cautious when teaching their children to report bullying to an adult without first attempting to resolve the conflict on their own.  Parents should encourage their children to first attempt to resolve the bullying on their own with the skills taught above.  If their children are unsuccessful resolving these issues on their own, they should be encouraged to report the bullying.  If their children automatically report the bullying without attempting to defuse the situation on their own, they will be perceived and labeled as a tattle-tale which will encourage the bullying to continue.

Parents need to teach their children the correct definition of the word ‘tattling’.  Some children think that reporting child misbehavior to adults is considered tattling.  Parents need to teach their children that reporting on others just to see them get into trouble is considered tattling.  A child that reports to his/her parents that his/her brother is picking his nose is considered tattling.  Children always need to report to an adult if they were physically, sexually, or verbally harmed by others or if they witnessed others engaging in destructive or illegal behaviors.

It is very easy to feel sympathetic toward victims of child bullying.  However, it would be more helpful to the victim if we are more empathic to their needs by empowering them to diffuse bullying on their own.  As a result, their ability to defuse the bullying would ultimately raise their level of self-esteem and self-worth.

Mark Lakewood, CEO, is a distinguished bullying prevention expert, author, and speaker with over 20 years of clinical experience as a family therapist.  He provided clinical and consultation services to school personnel and students on issues of bullying and behavior management. He facilitates the “Standing Up To Bullying” Conference, http://www.StandingUpToBullyingConference.com.

I suspect that for most people their concern about swine flu peaked the day that the World Health Organization raised their warning level all the way up to level 6 and declared that they were at “full pandemic status”. Since then the world has not melted or anything, so we have all gone back to business as usual. I know that I have, and I think most people have taken the view that this thing is pretty much yesterday’s story and that swine flu is about as harmful as a drink of water.

And you know what? So far, it looks as if that’s about right (yes, some people have died of swine flu complications, but a lot less than were initially expected). I have to admit that I was starting to feel the same way, but I have just finished reading a book called “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza”, and what I found out is that looks can be deceiving when it comes to strains of flu. The author points out that the last time we saw a flu strain like this novel H1N1 strain begin spreading around the world, it ended with the deaths of about 100 million people.

It did not happen that long ago either. It was 1918, less than a century ago. An H1N1 strain came out of nowhere at about the same time of the year, spring time, and then vanished a month or two later without causing much of a problem. But then it came back in the fall.

This time it was completely changed, and that dopey virus that caused little loss of sleep in the early part of the year was suddenly dropping people in their tracks. Those that turned blue did not last very long, and in most cities around the world they quickly ran out of coffins and had to stack corpses in makeshift piles and bury them in mass graves.

Well, I could go on about the obvious parallels between the strain that emerged in 1918 and the one we are dealing with in 2009. But really, I would only be scratching the surface of a very involved story that actually goes back to Abraham Lincoln and something he did during the Civil War. Something which guaranteed that even if nature acting on its own does not come up with a twin version of that 1918 strain, we may yet get to experience it again anyway.

That was just one of the surprising things I discovered in “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza“, and I can guarantee you that those “idiot” WHO officials that we all laughed at earlier when they raised the alarm and then nothing bad seemed to happen, well, they aren’t quite the idiots we made them out to be. Not by a long shot.

Trust me, if you think all those swine flu warnings were hype and that our troubles are now behind us, then you are going to be one of the 99 percent of the population that gets caught with its pants down when the nasty hits the fan. No one knows whether it will be this year, the next, or five years from now. But if you would rather be among the one percent whose family isn’t taken by surprise, get a hold of this book. Heck, for the cost of cheap family meal you get an education that might just save the life of a family member one day.

Usually when someone tells you that some book they are recommending may be the most important one you will read this year, you already KNOW that it is a line. But in this case, that’s just not true. At any rate, you can decide for yourself when you go check it out. You can thank me later for pointing you in the right direction.

At the very least, sign up to grab the introductory chapters of the book. If you read those and you still think you and your family have
nothing to fear from the next pandemic you will at least know where to find the information later if you discover you were wrong.

So drop what you are doing, and check out“Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza” right now so that you can get prepared well ahead of time. I know that my family is going to be a lot better off for me having learned what is in this book, and what I can do to make sure they are protected as much as possible against any pandemic threat – no matter when it makes its appearance.

You Can Read More Great Articles On Everything You Need To Know To Prevent The Swine Flu From Affecting You Or Your Family and How To Survive the Pandemic of 2009 At The Truth About The Swine Flu Pandemic

When most people think about the prospect of a severe pandemic visiting their neck of the woods, it is the fear of becoming infected that scares them. In the case of a flu strain that kills as efficiently as the one that circled the world in 1918, the prospect is hardly a comforting one.

In the case of blue collar workers it is believed that in some U.S. communities the mortality rate for those infected was as high as 10 percent. In more epidemiologically isolated communities, like the Inuit Eskimo tribes of Alaska, the mortality rate reached 90 percent and virtually wiped those communities off the map.

Less widely appreciated is that a pandemic need not even reach your door in order to be able to kill you or a family member. During a severe pandemic you could literally starve to death while never having come in close contact with the virus. This is just one of the conclusions I reached after reading “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza”, which will have you rethinking just how much you really understand about your own place in the world. Because it turns out that we are a lot more delicately positioned than we like to believe.

Here is what I am talking about. Get up from your chair and head to the kitchen and make a quick inventory of the amount of food you have. How long would it last you if you discovered tomorrow that the shelves would be empty in the stores where you shop? Most retailers today work on a “just in time” model – they stock just enough product to keep the shelves full for a few days, and restock just as frequently as new shipments come in. Nobody stores in quantity any more because their margins are too thin to accommodate the extra expense. So any disruption to the fulfillment line means rapid onset of delivery problems, to stores, to customers, to you and your family.

In the event of a national crisis that should knock out truck drivers – and this could simply be due to fear that once they get in their trucks and embark on a long haul they will not be available if a family member falls gravely ill during a pandemic – the panic sweeping of inventory by consumers could easily clear store shelves in as little as 24 hours, leaving whatever you have in your cupboards as the only food and water you may be able to get your hands on for weeks.

Your neighbors will be facing the exact same dilemma, so don’t bother looking to them to bail you out. Nor should you expect the government to come rushing in with supplies to help you. That kind of thing happens only during local emergencies, not the kind of nation-wide threat we are talking about here where *everyone* is experiencing the same kind of disruptions to their normal existence.

If you are lucky enough to have a huge stockpile of food in your home – enough to get you through the crisis with some rationing – you will not want to advertise the fact. If your neighbor is faced with the option of either watching his family starve to death, or forcibly take food and water from you to make sure that does not happen, well, your life may be threatened yet again.

As I said at the outset, a virus that causes a severe pandemic does not need to reach your door in order for it to claim your life or the life of a family member. It only has to spread fear to get the job done. This is just one of the startling conclusions you will reach yourself once you have read “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza”

You Can Read More Great Articles On Everything You Need To Know To Prevent The Swine Flu From Affecting You Or Your Family and How To Survive the Pandemic of 2009 At The Truth About The Swine Flu Pandemic

If I was to ask you how lethal the current swine flu strain is, you would probably say “not very?” and hope that things are going to stay that way. Well, me too. But I have also been looking at this thing more closely, and the number I come up with for the mortality rate is about 3 in every 10,000 new infections. At least, that’s how swine flu has been behaving up until mid 2009. Of course, things can always change overnight, and that is why we have several major vaccine companies racing to get a vaccine into the hands of the public before it is truly needed.

But that mortality rate is surprisingly low. Especially when you consider that the last time an H1N1 swine flu virus began spreading unchecked in the human population it eventually morphed into a killer that was capable of killing roughly 500 of every 10,000 people newly infected. In some small and socially remote communities the mortality rate reached a level equivalent to a stunning 9,000 of every 10,000 new infections. This makes the current swine flu virus with its 3 in 10,000 seem like small potatoes indeed.

Just keep in mind that the 1918 strain started out as small potatoes too, and took six months or so to ramp up the numbers. No one knows if that might happen again, but nobody who understands the highly mutating nature of influenza A is prepared to rule it out either. The amazing thing I learned, while reading “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza”, is that even if the current swine flu strain never manages to become more deadly than it is right now, we could still see a repeat of 1918 from none other than the original virus itself.

How is that possible, you ask? It turns out that through an amazing chain of events starting with Abraham Lincoln, who issued a proclamation to study diseases on the battlefield during the Civil War, and ending with a molecular biologist who was able to string the virus back together in 2005 after it had been dead for nearly nine decades, the monster strain is alive and well and ready to wreak havoc again the moment somebody in the lab gets sloppy with their safety protocols.

So do not let the slowness with which the new swine flu strain is becoming more threatening lull you into complacency about pandemic influenza. There is now something in the lab that ought to be keeping us all awake at night. To find out more about this amazing development, I recommend you read the full story in “Survive Pandemic Flu – Understand and Protect Against Novel Strains Of Influenza”

You Can Read More Great Articles On Everything You Need To Know To Prevent The Swine Flu From Affecting You Or Your Family and How To Survive the Pandemic of 2009 At The Truth About The Swine Flu Pandemic