I went about my day’s errands trying to remember that my shop minefield of 4 traps had a tan mouse needing disposal. When I finally got home I turned on the light and gingerly fished out one trap among three still ready to snap on my finger. It wasn’t tan at all. It was a darkish colored mouse. WTF?
I wish I’d been carefully writing down the mouse colors and counts but alas I’m just too haphazard. That’s on me. Aldo Leopold would have a full notebook with graphs and charts by now. Henry David Thoreau would have written a poem about it. Teddy Roosevelt would have mounted several and sent them off to the Smithsonian. I do notice but don’t pay close enough attention to derive conclusions.
As far as I could tell the little fucker was a brownish mouse in the morning and a darkish one in the evening. How could that be?
That night I turned it over in my head. I came up with an outlandish theory that somehow a brownish mouse had been trapped enough so I could glance it in the morning, but during the day it had wriggled loose and somehow a darkish mouse had got himself caught in the same trap by mid afternoon. I dreamed that night about heroic Rambo brown mouse escaping his almost certain doom and dipshit dark mouse falling headfirst into the trap… which is clearly nonsense.
The next morning I looked at my trap minefield carefully. There is no way in hell there had been a mouse switcharoo. It surprised me how hard part of my mind wanted to stick with my half dreamed mouse switch hypothesis. It was obvious bullshit. Yet some part of me was invested in it.
Regardless, the conclusion was inescapable. During my hurried morning I’d made an observation that was incorrect. In the evening, at leisure, I’d made a contrary observation that was correct. I shrugged my shoulders. Shit happens.
You think that’s the end of the story? It should be. It’s not. Lets veer into a whole new world!
That evening I had an appointment with a guy to buy some IBC containers. (An IBC container is a waist high, somewhat cubical, industrial liquid hauling “tank”. People repurpose them to many uses. I wanted to test the use of one for my firewood. More on that later.)
The guy, who I know and respect, texted me. “I can’t do the IBC container today. I’m sicker than a dog. Missed work for two days.”
I texted back; “That’s fine. Get well and text me when you’re ready.”
I didn’t really want details but he sent them anyway. “I got the flu shot and the Covid booster a few days ago. It feels like my chest has a weight on it and it takes some effort to breathe.”
Jesus! What does a one say to that? I didn’t know how to respond so, being a guy, I didn’t.
A few minutes later another text came in “This isn’t a good pitch for a vaccination but you should get yours anyway. I’ve had the same symptoms before. I’ll be fine in a day or so.”
Great googly moogly!
The guy took an action that has made him feel sick before. Unsurprisingly, it’s making him feel sick again. There is undeniable evidence that the “vaccination” doesn’t provide immunity against future sickness. There’s clear experience that (at least for him) it has caused past sickness and now he’s repeated the experiment with current sickness. Yet he did it anyway. And he’s encouraging me to do the same thing. Why? Presumably whatever motivates him to act this way is such a good idea he thinks it’s in my best interest to copy his actions. Well I assume he’s thinking of my best interests, but then again how do I know? Suppose I get sick just like him, then what? Is that a “good” outcome? I feel fine right now. What’s the logic of approaching someone who feels fine and instructing him to do something that has made yourself ill… twice? It feels kind of cult-like.
I texted back “Thanks”. Then I turned off my phone. The whole thing made me sad.
It was poignant. Remember, this isn’t an idiot I was dealing with. He’s intelligent, well read, friendly, and I like him. If his actions are self destructive that’s his business but what about encouraging other people to follow his lead. Why? This nice guy has willingly taken multiple doses of a thing that made him ill. He, in his intelligent and friendly way, encouraged me to take doses of the thing that made him ill. Presumably if I took his advice I would feel ill too. Is that the goal? How does one react to a world where discussions like that happen?
I thought about my stupid mouse theory. I’d made an observation in the morning but found further evidence that disproved it. The next day I really didn’t like admitting I’d been wrong. Yet I’d been wrong. So I admitted it, adjusted my thinking, and continued on my merry way. It wasn’t that hard but it wasn’t default human behavior. If that was just my goofy theory about mice, what was happening with a much more serious construct in my friend’s head? How hard will he cling to his theory? He’s having trouble breathing… again. Because he took the same action… again. Breathing is a big fucking deal! Repeated interference with breathing wasn’t enough for him to see the pattern and come to a different conclusion. What would it take?
Our minds are a work in progress. We are monkeys with cell phones. Herd animals with 401(k) accounts. We evolved for a world we no longer inhabit. Who knows what internal processes work just fine for picking fruit out of a tree but are deadly in a world where some of us have learned how to lie. And how much worse has it gotten now that since smart people with databases turned social media into a monster? It’s not just one skeevy douchebag lying to one innocent victim; it’s an army of skeevy douchebags creating an entire environment of deception. Our monkey level processing hardware seems to be up to the task of self preservation but only when we’re paying attention. Left on auto-pilot, mass deception exceeds the monkey’s coding. You wind up stuggling to breathe (again!) and encouraging other people to do what’s making your breath labored.
You have to keep on your toes. Nobody can monitor your monkey mind but you. You must practice thinking. Practice with irrelevant shit. Think carefully about small things so you’re ready when big things happen. You don’t have to fret over mice. Choose your own practice ground. What matters is you interact with external forces and learn from them. Don’t just stumble around “feeling good”. Don’t become an idiot; forcing reality to comport with your internal theories. If you’re wrong, fuckin’ figure it out!
Someone injected my friend with a substance that made him feel ill. He volunteered for this. He’s done it before. It made him feel ill before. He encourages me to do the same; presumably so I’ll feel ill too. Then I’ll be just like him. Is that his goal? Does he even have a goal? Was he encouraging me to get the shot that made him sick for no other reason than he was told to do so? Was he just following programming; saying words laid down in the fertile ground of his mind? How pissed off would he be if I tried to reason with him? “Hey friend, lets sit down with a beer and I’ll tell my story about mice…”
Nope. It wouldn’t work and it would be rude on my part. He’s entitled to make his own decisions. I’m not arrogant to think it’s my task to save anyone from themselves. (I wish he’d reciprocate and offer me absolutely no advice about vaccines. But then again how much self-reflection can I expect from a guy literally suffering at his own hand?) All I can do is maintain my dumb little blog. I write stories (this one is true!). I hope most readers “get it”. Folks might come up with conclusions that differ than mine and that’s fine. So long as they’re reasoned conclusions I’m happy. However, I won’t (can’t?) drag folks, kicking and screaming, out of their cage. In fact there’s no cage at all. 2020 might have been a maelstrom of coercion but in 2023 nobody made my friend go get the shot… he drove himself to a facility and had it done for reasons which surely made sense to him.
Next fall maybe I’ll to start taking photos of mice in traps and maintain a proper count. Or maybe I’ll Google Rodentia. Or not. It’s small potatoes in the real scheme of things. I’ve plenty of opportunities to keep my mind sharp. The point is to use the opportunities. Keep your wits keen lest you lemming yourself off a cliff.
Good luck y’all.
A.C.
That advice about taking ‘poison’ sounds like a guy behavior I’ve seen before.
Guy sniffs something, makes a face and proclaims this thing smells like the worst thing on this side of Hades. “Here – smell it !” No, its okay – I’ll take your word for it. And the guy actually appears disappointed that you won’t smell this vile object.
Hi AC,
Just wanted to say that it is sooooo good to have you back writing again. Really enjoying your writing and perspectives.
Warm regards,
KA
Thanks. It’s good to be back. My rough year has cut back on writing because it cut back on not only time but mental space. But I’m easing back into it and it feels good. I had hoped to have my squirrels story nearly wrapped up as a “Christmas present” to readers but I can’t quite manage it.
Squirrels!?!
Tree Mike
Delayed. Not canceled.
Someone injected my friend with a substance that made him feel ill. He volunteered for this. He’s done it before. It made him feel ill before. He encourages me to do the same; presumably so I’ll feel ill too. Then I’ll be just like him. Is that his goal? Does he even have a goal? Was he encouraging me to get the shot that made him sick for no other reason than he was told to do so? Was he just following programming; saying words laid down in the fertile ground of his mind?
Has he been listening to ABBA recently?
Maybe we’ve all been listening to Abba lately.
Yeah, Life is full enough of trip hazards without looking for bonus hazards (the vaxx is definitely a hazard). I woke up late to the problem of vaxx’s, like a couple decades back. I don’t consider myself “that” smart…anymore, but I have successfully made it into my 70’s, so I’ll chalk it up to being lucky or good karma.
I’ll echo anony at 1:22pm, glad yer back.
Tree Mike
Thanks, glad to be back.
I’m glad you’re feeling better and dispensing free ice cream
A.C.!
At the risk (hope 😆) of giving you fodder for a post:
The lemmings were pushed over the cliff! No really, check it out.
We all saw that one Disney program and believed it.
Trust nothing! Question everything!
Ha ha ha… yes I’m aware that the concept that lemmings run off cliffs is BS created by Disney. Also frogs wont sit in slowly heating water like dumbasses until they boil.
Death changes things. May be color?
Oh man, that’s a fabulous theory. Although it’s probably just different species. I should shut my mouth before the EPA declares that one of them is endangered.
You, sir, are a better person than I am – you don’t feel the need to show another that he’s making poor decisions. Instead, you’re treating your IBC-selling friend like an adult, letting him make his own decisions and be responsible for his own actions. In today’s culture, that’s so rare as to be ‘abnormal’ – which is why I really, really enjoy reading your missives. Glad to hear that you’re coming back to your own ‘good place’ after a nasty time.
Steve O
Thank you. It’s good to be “back”.
Hits kind of close to home for me. My mother passed last July of lymphoma, and had uterine cancer in 2011. My father passed of kidney cancer back in ’79, diagnosed in ’75. So I’ve a bit of history with chemotherapy, experimental regimens, and how sick it makes a person, and it has certainly gotten better over the years. Interestingly enough, a survey of oncologists by McGill Cancer Center indicated three-quarter would refuse treatment and go directly to hospice care if they had cancer, which sort of makes you wonder what they think of the medicine they’re prescribing. All that as a preface, your average cancer patient is hanging onto that hope of chemo until it’s no longer a hope or even a prayer. As were the family, I suspect. I know I was. I thus strongly suspect your friend was still scared of covid and believed the media hype and self-justified his self-induced sickness the same way a cancer patient does — the bitter medicine offers hope that it may be better to take the sickness than the ultimate outcome without it. Seems to me that’s a judgement call, and it’s his and yours and ours to make and evaluate according to each’s personal values and risk assessments. I get it. Mom’s living will was clear on her criteria for pulling medical intervention, and my sister and I willfully ignored that and kept her on chemo for just one more round hoping for some recovery, some improvement. A chance. Didn’t happen. I still tell myself I had to give life a chance, even if it meant only another year or two — time to see the grandkids, time to spend with her family, time to enjoy herself before the lymphoma returned more aggressive and became untreatable. Ultimately, hindsight tells me I made the wrong choice for her, prolonging her discomfort, but I held on to that slender reed of hope and we kept her alive but in pain for another month. Such is the power of hope. And fear. The man’s heart is in the right place — he’s recommending for you what he has hope in. No need to burst his bubble about it right now.
I thought about your comment and I’m glad you sent it. There’s nothing I can do to make your difficult experiences better but I empathize. With time all wounds heal, I hope you’re doing as well as possible. I had a similar experience this year. It took me down a peg or two.
“The man’s heart is in the right place — he’s recommending for you what he has hope in. No need to burst his bubble about it right now.”
You’re totally correct. I have no doubt he means well. I like this guy and respect him. I deliberately got away from the phone before I said anything that would burst his bubble. I think that was the right thing to do.
The point is the modern world is a dangerous place. We are surrounded by people who have been manipulated and can no longer reason. You cannot trust those who cannot think. Maybe 20 years ago I could say “he’s a good friend” and just go along with whatever he says simply because he’s a friend. Not now.
In the height of COVID, people who “meant well” did horrible unethical things. They’re still doing it because once locked on a pattern, it’s hard to change. Disaster got a lot closer than it should have! All that stood between barely scraping by as a free-ish people and total subjugation was a handful of obstreperous citizens. It was a close call. And since it worked once it will surely happen again. The damage is deep, everything from reduced birth rates to illiterate kids who missed a few years of school to my friend who volunteers for treatments that hurt him. Another few disturbances like COVID and we’ll be living in mud huts.
People in general, good intention or not, sometimes recommend things that cause you harm. Our modern world with so many deceptions requires us to weigh outcomes. We have to. People emoting over intentions have done absolute evil. Put another way, if my friend honestly means me well but pushes me in front of a train it’s still going to hurt.
One topic that I wanted to broach on my post was his “absence of hope”. To convince people to do something that hurts you have to turn the small risk of a short unpleasant illness into near death. That pushes along people’s dedication to the shot (as you said, the shot is his “hope”). Just as you see people going to great lengths based on hope. I see frantic grasping caused by eliminating reasoned options to decline. My friend is, was, and will remain convinced there are only two possible outcomes; a shot that makes you ill OR an illness that’s much worse and possibly fatal. In his mind that’s it. There’s the whiff of Satan about the conundrum; “Choose between two options that both harm you… there is no option that causes no harm”.
The third option, which I took. Doesn’t exist to my friend. Most healthy people would remain perfectly fine without the shot. This has been erased from his mind. He can’t imagine doing nothing and being healthy. I can see why. He’s been buried in propaganda and it took hold.
Here’s another thing I wanted to work into my post but ran out of space; the president himself said: “For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.” He said that exactly 2 years ago. You read the transcript if you want. Real bundle of joy that speech was! Biden is the first president, of any party, in my whole life, that seems to enjoy cursing me with inevitable suffering or death. Presidents usually try to serve hope, not crush it. Reagan implored me to gaze at a shining city on the hill. How sweet. Biden sentenced me to a winter of illness and death. Gee thanks! Biden is also the first president I’ve ever witnessed to speak to citizens as if they are obligated to live up to his standards. He also said “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.” Just a barrel of monkeys that guy! The point is, that my friend fears illness because he’s been told he’s doomed.
My friend is in agreement with Biden (who got more votes than any other candidate in history… but that’s another story). I survived my “winter of severe illness and death” but that contradicts what my friend was told. I did fine, so did my family, and so did the hospital (which I never entered and was not overwhelmed). Everything Biden predicted didn’t happen. But that can’t be possible! The president, and virtually all of the media, commanded a “winter of severe illness and death”. My friend had to pick what to believe and the words he has been told hold great strength because that’s how propaganda is structured to work. He thinks his fate is doom. Until he sees a happier alternative, he’ll jump though hoops like a trained poodle.
One last thought (sorry this is going so long)… Chico Marx (in Duck Soup) said “Who ya gonna believe? Me or your OWN eyes?” It was a punchline and I love the Marx Brothers, but it’s spooky in 2023. A lot of folks really don’t believe their OWN eyes.
Anyway, thanks for the comment. I didn’t mean to rudely use it as a launchpad to riff off… I just had a lot more I wanted to put in my post that didn’t fit. You prompted me to think about it some more.
AC, I have to disagree with your position on not telling your friend.
“Put another way, if my friend honestly means me well but pushes me in front of a train it’s still going to hurt.”
Right up to the.point he urged you to take the shot, your position is good. The moment he crossed the line to encourage you to take the shot he is advocating you do yourself potential harm. He may not listen but he needs to be told, otherwise he is lacking an important data point that may make hime realise his error.
Differ
On the other hand, his friend isn’t pushing him in front of a train, yet. His friend is telling him that being hit by a train is less bad than being hit by a truck, or pick your own analogy. Doesn’t make his friend bad, it merely makes him ignorant and wrong. Now then, a politician telling you that you have to jump in front of a train, an HR drone or manager telling you same, with a threat of loss of your employment or income or freedom? That’s something entirely different. One was unsolicited advice, the other is a threat backed by force, and his friend has no force to employ in the matter. I certainly think Trump is culpable as the leader for letting it get to that stage, and there are 50 governors to blame as well, but if we follow it on down the line AC also said it best — we need to make decisions based upon outcomes, and the outcomes were not only unknown (Italy scared the hell out of everybody) but they were hyped to hell and gone when evidence from ships and other isolated petri dishes came in and were completely ignored. I get an abundance of caution in the absence of data, particularly in politicians and the like, but to my mind a bunch of professions with a reputation of scientific method threw their reputations and ethics in the trash. That’s no reason to lose a friendship, but it is a reason to never, ever trust those people again.
Bingo! No need to be rude but you can never forget they’d happily cause you harm.
No worries AC — I had the same thoughts myself during this ordeal. The oncologist kept his mask below his nose, or would move it aside to talk (and this is a guy who is world-renown in his field), but every soap and antibiotic rinse dispenser was battery-powered so you couldn’t, apparently, contaminate your hands prior to washing them of the germs. Proud to be a green energy hospital with all those batteries going into the landfill, they were. At some point anybody with a bit of rationality just has to look at the trends of humanity and wonder if we’re just too stupid to continue. But I thank you for your thoughts. Can’t sign in for some reason, but that response and this one are from Max. So you know. Been a helluva year, hasn’t it my friend?
It sure has been a hell of a year. Hang in there eh?
Today, I read the mouse trap story. Very good, and a good lesson learned.
Your friend showed the distinction between “education” and “intelligence”, two very different things that our world conflates.
Then I start to read the next story where I see
>Politics isn’t that big of a deal in the overall arc of things.
Of course, nothing is even close to as big a deal. Politics determines everything for us, including where/how/if we’ll eat that day (or be in a position to decide for ourselves).
This directly led to a mental zone out. The conflict can’t be solved. Compartmentalizing started…compartmentalizing complete.
Ha ha ha… sorry for the compartmentalization dissonance. I was saying my mouse theory is pretty irrelevant. But yeah, I do make a point of trying to limit my exposure to politics and other forms of concentrated stupidity. It’s not that politics isn’t powerful but more like limiting exposure to it is a self defense mechanism. Look at how fucking crazy people get! Right now they’re fighting in the streets both for and against Israel in places like London and Minneapolis. No matter who “wins” either the election or the “election” in America in 2024 someone will be in the streets breaking glass. A sane people might have an election without breaking shit in the streets and you’d think Ireland or the US could let Israel’s shit happen without getting worked up about it but we’re no longer that sane. Getting worked up seems to be what we do now. I’d rather stack wood in peace.
Fretting over things I cannot control is bad for me. I can no more control our current era of politically driven self destruction than I can stop a volcano from erupting. Most of what I can do is limit my exposure. It’s only a half solution. Once you’ve made sure you’re not living on the slopes of Vesuvius you’ve done about all you can. That doesn’t mean you won’t get whacked by the fallout when Pompeii gets nuked but it’s better than being in the middle of it.
The correct response is to say you are putting a note on your calendar to take them for the booster in a couple of months.
This is the Elite WEF boys reducing the useless eaters. A small note on intelligence: It doesn’t matter what number they give you, what matters is if you can use it in the real world. Taking the shot is dumb, it has been dumb from before the first shot was given. The “smart people” who took the shot failed the real world intelligence test, they are not any smarter, in the real world, than a fry cook at MuckyD’s.