Ebola a global threat or is media the culprit again? Will Africans be treated with fear?

The Ebola virus

Am I scared about acquiring Ebola? Well I was not until today. I have been thinking it is a far away thing with a limited reach and considering no wild apes here..., am I joking, sarcastic or perhaps a racist son of a bitch. I have no idea how others are thinking, perhaps there are people less racist than me more humane than me more empathetic than me , how would I know without a slight provocation. Ebola has been no fear of mine, neither was HIV/AIDS even though there was a period in my life when I tried to prove myself sexually resulting in years of severe anxiety, it poured off though when nothing happened and I started realizing that part of the population is immune to HIV.

Today my Jesus guys came, that is the Jehovah’s witness, to my place as they normally do on Fridays even though they also serve surprise or drop-in visits to teach me about the Lord and the "good news". My life today is on the spiritual path and I am trying to learn and understand so much I am able to before my final times comes and that is why I invite them inside to enter whenever they show up. Today I could not attend them as I already was dressed up to leave to run a number of important errands. Took some time to talk to them though and one of the two expressed that he had fears for Ebola as he was going to Spain in the beginning of November. I told him to travel with faith, telling him that there was no real danger as the Ebola only is contagious only through contacts with body fluids. He replied, they (the scientists) don't know. I went on and said, well, if you get sick, you won’t have to suffer long, just imagine people that struggles with a deceases for months, years to die, you're suffering will be short, we are already old and we will all have to die one day, just go in peace and enjoy your visit. This did not console him, a man of Jesus and Jehovah, I could not believe what I heard. I told him I had been thinking about enlisting as a volunteer going to Africa fighting the decease but figured out that my situation would not allow it. They left, we said good bye and this man thanked me for pouring oil on his turbulent mind waves, but he still seemed unhappy.

I drove away from my house to my first errand, the recycling center with a couple of old water pipes of metal. Just a few hundred meters on the road from my house, my eyes and my mind is registering some delicious movements of a rear end, the rear of a female walking on the opposite side-walk. I had not seen anything like it for some time, quite unusual and not the movements of a native Swedish woman so while passing her I turned my head and saw that it was an African woman. Nothing more than a few more thoughts of that delicious rear wonder.

It took great part of my day at various places, After the bank I had a pair of cheeseburger at MacDonald’s. When I picked up the tray with my food I sensed it was wet and I felt a sudden discomfort but did not reflect. I saw a lot of African people everywhere as Sweden has been very open to accept immigrants from all hot spots of the world the past years but without giving it any particular thought. The last place was IKEA, pretty far away from my house, a place mostly for home starters meaning that many of those going there are immigrants, more Africans there as what you normally would see on the street. After paying for the goods I had purchased I went to the IKEA hot-dog joint to have a snack before loading up the car going home. There are tables where you stand to eat your meal and while eating I saw table was smeared with mustard and ketchup once again giving me that feeling of discomfort and reflecting over not having washed my hands before eating.

Eventually got home, made myself some coffee accompanied by a Danish pastry, still without having washed my hands after a whole day out. Now I understood what had been bothering me the whole day: I did not feel safe (from Ebola) anymore. I started thinking realizing that I had 2 tenants in my home, foreign students, not exactly very clean studying at the Stockholm university with other students from all over Europe and Africa. What if they brought home something? The university, perhaps the most dangerous environment of all, with students going home to see families at breaks. I am talking about African students of course. Am I going to avoid Africans now. Does people in general have fears like me starting to avoid Africans. I am a man and up until today I only saw the beauty in the African women, the strength in the African man.

Will Africans be treated the same way as we treated the gays after the HIV outbreaks in the 80:ties or have we learned something? Is fear stronger than education and knowledge?