Michael Wojciechowski

If life ever worked out the way it was meant to, I would be in L.A. right now waiting to board a plane to Australia.  That was the original plan.  Eight days on the one continent I’ve been waiting my whole life to visit.  Then I got sick.  That pig flu thingy that’s going around that has nothing to do with pigs.  I probably could’ve still made the trip, but I didn’t want to be that guy.  The guy in the small confined public place who’s coughing up phlegm the entire time and he only stops long enough to blow his nose?  You know, that insensitive guy who’s almost as bad as the important guy who answers his phone in a restaurant and talks loud enough for the kitchen to hear?  That guy.

So anyway, I’m pretty bummed about the whole scenario, but, hey, these things happen, and there’s nothing I could’ve done to prevent it.  I mean, sure, I could’ve gotten the H1N1 vaccine, but I’m a fairly healthy guy.  I’m only 28.  I figured I would let those who need it the most have first dibs: pregnant women, young children, the elderly.  Those people need to maintain their health, and they should be vaccinated first.  But I'd be lying if I said I'm not more than a little . . . bothered that the government has vaccinated all detainees at Gitmo. I'm not bothered because I got sick.  Truth is, I wasn't going to get the vaccine anyway; I'm too lazy to take preventative measures seriously.  But it is a little heartbreaking to drive past a grocery store and see women and children waiting in line outside in the cold for the vaccine.  The blame doesn't lie with the prisoners.  It lies, as always, with inept and corrupt government officials who continue to see its citizens as commodities instead of people.