The Sneeze That Blew Over A Cactus

There is a saying here that states, “when the United States catches a cold, Mexico catches pneumonia.” This statement implies that when a detrimental issue occurs in the U.S. it trickles South of the border, all the while gaining inertia and magnifying to something just short of catastrophe by the time it reaches Mexico City.
To further my point with some irony, take the swine flu for example. To go by the standards of the media, the swine flu was a pandemic to rival the bubonic plague. If I clung to the local news as my source for updates on the reality of the outside world, I would have taken out an extra student loan to pay for medical masks, bottles of water and the construction of my own, quarantined bomb shelter. To be less sarcastic, even just by talking to people on campus (especially those waiting in line for hours to receive their free vaccination), I was under the impression that getting the swine flu vaccine held the equivalent importance as gaining a college degree (we can’t force you to obtain it, but if you don’t, be prepared to live a much harder, less glamorous life).
However, looking at statistics, only 6% of households in the U.S. experienced a case of the swine flu, and only 10% of those cases were severe enough to cause death. And, of those deaths, majority were either over 65 years of age, or under 4 years old and had preexisting medical conditions. In short, the dreaded swine flu was not quite the bubonic plague we were expecting, and the countless gasps I heard from people when I told them I was going to Mexico without the swine flu vaccine were a bit unnecessary (but thank you for the concern).
Yet, as with any issues, the media and many U.S. citizens needed a foreign cause for this “National Emergency,” “Surging Pandemic,” or “Global Catastrophe” if you prefer. Enter - Mexico.
Back home, as the swine flu generated hysteria and created new jobs in the medical industry, the effects of this perpetuated fear snowballed its way to Mexico where it melted into a big pool of mierda. For example, many aspects of Mexico’s foreign trade, especially that dealing with pork products, came to a screeching halt. Domestic business suffered. For example, Mexico City placed a five-day halt on all unessential activities and afterwards, life did not return to normal on Monday. It was estimated Mexico City’s Chamber of Commerce lost $58 million per day during this time. And in my understanding, the most devastating effect came in the form of a huge decrease in foreign travel and tourism to and within Mexico that provides roughly $14 billion dollars annually. I’m a living example of this as I was supposed to be in this program last year, but it was cancelled due to the “causes” of the swine flu.
And now, as other topics have taken over our current events and fear has subsided (due to sighs of relief after receiving a vaccine or the simple realization that diseases will always exist and it doesn’t mean the end of the world, I’m not sure), Mexico is still trying to re-cooperate. However, as this lesson in health has taught us, while a cold can go away with rest and warm tea, pneumonia often requires x-rays, MRI’s and mucus tests. And from my understanding gained from being immersed here for two months, I would diagnose Mexico as still infected, I mean, affected.