The People Who Deluded Themselves into Utter Doom

When the virus first appeared, seemingly without warning, most people felt surprise and fear. Things quickly went from good to bad, and from happy to sad. Soon, however, their surprise and their fear lessened, as they collectively pursued an irrational response of comfortable denial.

Some of the people flatly denied that there was a virus, saying, "If we pretend that there is no virus, it will not hurt us." Other people acknowledged that there was a virus, but made light of it, saying, "The virus is only a small problem, and should not be seen as a cause for serious concern."

Few people were willing to admit that the virus was actually one of the greatest threats that had ever appeared in the world. The leaders of the people were able, therefore, to get away with doing absolutely nothing to stop the virus from relentlessly spreading its fatal infection.

Meanwhile, the virus itself took no heed of the comfortable denial that prevailed, and continued to infect all those who made themselves available. Day by day, week by week, month by month, the virus grew more dangerous, and more determined to cut down everyone in its path.

The worse the situation became, the more the people deluded themselves, saying, "Things might be bad now, but the bad time is almost over, and then everything will be happy again, as it was before the virus appeared." Nevertheless, the virus went about its harmful business.

In the end, all the people became ill and perished, allowing the virus to achieve total victory. The people had chosen, foolishly, to put their faith in comfortable denial, and in so doing, had deluded themselves into utter doom. The virus, having done its work, was quite pleased with itself.