I was gone for a while. Did ya’ miss me? I was “off grid” a week or so. It’s not the big deal that you’d think. (I wasn’t cloistered!) I spent some time on a motorcycle, a couple days in the plastic innards of suburbia, and finally a super secret mission to parts unknown to go fishing. A nice break, well earned and wholly appreciated.
The dark side of “off grid” is going back “on”. Sometimes I come back “on grid” to discover people have gone full Technicolor stupid in only a few days. I’ve returned to crashed markets, exploded shuttles, the O.J. Simpson murder, and discovering countries nobody cared about when I left are an undeclared shooting war in our “vital interest” on my return. (These are just a few examples.) The misdeeds of celebrities and failed shuttles were tragic spectacle but wars and wild economic gyrations are worse. Stupid people in large groups can be stampeded. I’ve seen it happen. If the lemmings charge while you’re “off grid” it’s far more jarring to absorb it all at once when you return.
This time I was curious what earth shattering events took place while I was out losing bait to the current. Would it be good news? Bad news? Weird news? …Nothing happened! Glorious, delightful, productive, nothing!
It was a Memorial Day miracle! The flags on Memorial day were as proud as ever. Flowers on graves…very well done. Even politicians (spit!) briefly refrained from starting wars or tinkering with economic levers they don’t understand. Superb!
I may be the only blogger that suggests you periodically ignore everything (even my blog) but that’s my Curmudgeonly advice. The greatest universal bullshit detector on earth is a few days “off grid”.