CLICK BELOW TO REDISCOVER HUMANITY
A DECADE+ OF STORYTELLING POWERED BY THE BEST WRITERS ON THE PLANET

The Wizards of Wonder

If you’re as confused about the coronavirus as I am, it means we’ve been seeing, hearing, and reading the same things. Most recently, of course, a statement issued by the CDC suggesting that COVID-19 deaths were just six percent of what had been previously reported was misinterpreted. What the CDC meant, it contended, was that just six percent of all the deaths attributed to COVID-19 were caused by the coronavirus only. Why? Because comorbidity.

According the CDC:

Comorbidity means more than one disease or condition is present in the same person at the same time. Conditions described as comorbidities are often chronic or long-term conditions. Other names to describe comorbid conditions are coexisting or co-occurring conditions and sometimes also “multimorbidity” or “multiple chronic conditions.”

This means if you’re 114 years old — suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high pollen counts; have liver, kidney, and thyroid diseases; were diagnosed with a brain tumor; and are prone to chronic hangnails and odd spells in which you’re convinced you’re Farley Granger or Dorothy Lamour (depending on your gender, if you still believe in any such things) — are propped up and strapped into your wheelchair, rolled over in front of a nursing-home window facing the street, are drooling idly when a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting smashes through the window, hits you in the head, and kills you — and you test positive for the coronavirus during your post-mortem exam — you died from COVID-19.

That’s why Andrew Cuomo herded everyone in New York over the age of 75 into nursing homes, so he could write a book. What’s that? Oh, yes. Andy sleeps very well at night. Thank you for asking.

At first, all of this fallacious flimflammery and medical mendacity frustrated me to distraction. But then, thank goodness, my sunny Irish disposition righted itself. And for whatever reason, I thought of the end of The Great Gatsby, in which Nick Carraway — describing Gatsby, comparing him to Dutch sailors first setting eyes on Long Island — thinks, “Man must have held his breath … compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired.”

So, I did. So, I was. And, so, I created this video:

And in that contemplation, all we can do is wonder. All we can do is wonder and wait for the next shoe to drop, the next rabbit to be pulled from a hat, the next sleight of information to dazzle and distress us.

Pay no attention to those men behind the curtain.

Mark O'Brien
Mark O'Brienhttps://obriencg.com/
I’m a business owner. My company — O’Brien Communications Group (OCG) — is a B2B brand-management and marketing-communication firm that helps companies position their brands effectively and persuasively in industries as diverse as: Insurance, Financial Services, Senior Living, Manufacturing, Construction, and Nonprofit. We do our work so well that seven of the companies (brands) we’ve represented have been acquired by other companies. OCG is different because our business model is different. We don’t bill by the hour or the project. We don’t bill by time or materials. We don’t mark anything up. We don’t take media commissions. We pass through every expense incurred on behalf of our clients at net. We scope the work, price the work, put beginning and end dates on our engagements, and charge flat, consistent fees every month for the terms of the engagements. I’m also a writer by calling and an Irish storyteller by nature. In addition to writing posts for my company’s blog, I’m a frequent publisher on LinkedIn and Medium. And I’ve published three books for children, numerous short stories, and other works, all of which are available on Amazon under my full name, Mark Nelson O’Brien.

DO YOU HAVE THE "WRITE" STUFF? If you’re ready to share your wisdom of experience, we’re ready to share it with our massive global audience – by giving you the opportunity to become a published Contributor on our award-winning Site with (your own byline). And who knows? – it may be your first step in discovering your “hidden Hemmingway”. LEARN MORE HERE


TAKE STROLL INSIDE 360° NATION

TIME FOR A "JUST BE." MOMENT?

ENJOY OUR FREE EVENTS

BECAUSE WE'RE BETTER TOGETHER