Life in the fast lane

It's time for a light-hearted post, something to take our minds off rampant, media-inspired epidemics, violence domestic and foreign, and the fact that there are already Christmas decorations going up in stores. So, I thought I'd fill you in on what has pulses (and engines) racing here in Abu Dhabi these days.

The Formula One Grand Prix, of course. What else?

Yes, everyone's favorite upstart emirate is hosting the final race of the season in just a few short days. Of course, there is a brand new race track. In fact, there is a brand new island for the brand new race track, along with a concert venue, an indoor Ferrari World theme park (as yet unfinished) and city full of hype. Tickets have been sold out for months and the Corniche is festooned with flags and banners from end to end, along with one of those digital countdown clocks that's recording the days, hours and seconds until the race begins. Beyonce and Aerosmith are scheduled to sing, and a lot of really rich guys with really expensive cars are arriving from all over the world to race around a 5-km circuit 55 times at speeds of up to 300 km/hour.

I can think of about 50,000 things I'd rather do than watch loud, souped-up cars zoom around for hours on end. Obviously, I am also in the minority. Formula One is big business and meshes perfectly with the nouveau-high-performance-shiny-fast-expensive vibe of the Gulf these days. The track itself rolled through millions of dollars and millions of construction hours, rose whole-cloth from the desert wastes and will be debuted on the world stage without passing go. It is said that at its height the workforce was made up of 41,000 men who consumed 17 tons of rice, eight tons of chicken and 156,000 pieces of chapati bread per day. Among other things, they built a 500-room hotel on Yas Island that straddles the race track, a first in F1 history (and pictured here). This, also, is no surprise in a country where hotels comprise 99.9% of the innovative architecture. It actually makes more sense to have a grand prix here than it does in recession-plagued, has-been places like Monaco and Belgium. I mean, really. Who exactly do you think are buying Ferraris and Lambourghinis these days? The Italians? The French? Je ne pense pas.

I will be in Turkey with 71 6th graders on November 1 when the clock on the Corniche finally counts down to zero and the gentlemen on Yas Island start their engines. We'll miss the roar of the crowd, the screeching turns and the flapping chequered flag of victory. By the time we get back the Fan Zone village will have disappeared from the Corniche, and the clock might be counting down something else. What will it be? The cynics among us might say: the time left until the oil runs out. But we're a few decades away from that yet. If you have a more nouveau-shiny-expensive suggestion, let me know. I'll be sure to pass it along to the Committee to Put Abu Dhabi On the Map.

The H1N1 hype

The worldwide swine flu pandemic has made me paranoid. Not about contracting the virus, which doesn't seem any more pernicious than other recent flu strains. But about the ability of the Powers that Be to use the media and peoples' natural fear of illness to whip up an insatiable (and profitable) market for vaccines and other expensive pharmaceuticals, not to mention pulling the eyes of the world away from their disagreeable and/or nonsensical policies.

As far as I've been able to research, there is very little that distinguishes the H1N1 virus from any other seasonal flu that makes the rounds each year. It came earlier, and it has affected a higher percentage of young people. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state clearly on their website than 70% of the deaths from swine flu, including in those under 64, were people with preexisting conditions that made them more at risk, including asthma, heart disease and diabetes. These diseases, as we know, are also affecting younger people in increasing numbers. No one has suggested shutting down local McDonalds as a way to battle this particular pandemic.

But I digress. My point is that things have gotten out of hand. The image above is from India, but it could be from right here in Abu Dhabi. The little school girls in my building also have a surgical mask as part of the official uniform at the local school. The government has shut down several schools in the UAE, and requires all nurses to report any case of fever to the Ministry of Education. There have been no swine flu deaths in the in this country so far, and only a few cases. That hasn't prevented my principal from nervously informing us that we might be shut down if too many kids are sent home sick. A lot of kids and teachers (myself included) have had colds since the weather started changing. None of us has had a fever or the flu. Yet our upcoming school trips to Turkey and Thailand could be canceled, though, if our "sent home" stats keep rising. At this point in the year, it would be impossible to reschedule. Some parents, however, might be just as happy because they are already keeping their children home that week for fear of the virus.

The virus that is, may I remind you, the flu. A new version, but the flu nonetheless. It has killed--wait for it--4,500 people worldwide, as of October 7, according to the WHO website. I mean no disrespect to the family and friends of those 4,500. However, malaria, also preventable and curable disease, kills about 1 million people a year, including lots and lots of kids. Car accidents kill 1.2 million. About 500,000 people die from drowning, another 25,000 from lightning strikes. The list goes on. In fact, flu itself used to be just as deadly, though it isn't anymore. Back in 1918, the influenza epidemic killed 50 million people when the world population was just a fraction of what it is today. Imagine killing off every single person in the state of California. Twice. It's incredible to think about. That was an epidemic worthy of the constant drumbeat of fear. This isn't. In this case, it's the fear itself that's hurting people much more than the disease. The little girls who must now interact with their friends from behind masks (even playtime is potentially deadly!); the kids at my school who won't take part in a truly life-changing experience; and (more importantly) the millions in the developing world who die each day of curable diseases that could actually benefit from this much publicity.

I'm not railing against flu shots, and more power to anyone wearing a surgical mask on the airplane (though why not always wear one? TB never goes out of season, and it kills 456,000 a year.) It's just that I'm worried about all this fear-mongering with so little cause. So many words and so much worry when you, your children and your family are about six times more likely to be struck by lightning than contract H1N1. Seriously. Let's try to resist becoming sheep too soon, so we'll be sure to recognize the real wolf, if and when it comes.