The world, and this country, gets weirder and
weirder. Now, I have no problem with weird, but I cannot quite wrap my brain
around our current dementia.
We seem to have no soul, no heart, left. Sure, people, some, here and there, display a bit of courage and kindness, but we have become so timid, so frightened. I suppose that is somewhat understandable, we have been through some rough spots, but come on, folks. What we have seen is nothing compared to what my folks saw. They went through World War 2, after scuffling through the Depression, and came through it all ready to roll. To prove it, they built this techno-wonderland we now live in.
We are besieged with advice from our government about our lifestyles. Every week we are told new things from our ever vigilant food fascists. No meat, especially no processed meat. No butter, no margarine, now no vegetable oils at all. Fried foods are a near sin. Eggs may be okay, but no more than one or two a week. Maybe. They'll get back to us on that one. Milk, well maybe, but you really should stick to soy or rice milk. And on and on it goes.
To make things worse, the restrictions are changed at an ever increasing rate. Two weeks ago, an announcement came out proclaiming red meat to be perfectly safe, this after years of declaring it a near poison. But, before you can grab a burger, they tell us that it likely causes kidney cancer. For years we were warned off whole milk, now they say that skim and lo-fat are no better. Butter was akin to cyanide for a long time, now it is said to be safer that the once touted margarines. Fry in vegetable oils, not animal fats, was once the word from on high. Now, we have just been told, avoid all vegetable oils.
My folks and all the parents of every kid I knew, lived on bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks, and butter. They smoked, drank gallons of coffee and most consumed a fair amount of alcohol. They worked hard, so hard that there was no need to work out in gyms. Even if they worked in offices, taking care of their property and keeping up with their kids kept them in perfectly acceptable shape.
Again, without all the fuss and without the advice from our meddlesome government and the busy- body researchers who are trying to justify the grant money they scammed out of foundations, they built the most amazing civilization the planet has ever seen. And here we sit, whining because that donut we snuck the other day may take ten minutes off our life (it likely will not hurt you half as much as worrying about it).
Admittedly, they may (emphasis on may) have lived a year or two longer if they had cut back a bit on a few things, but what good is that if you are not productive, if you are just worrying about lasting a while longer. I worked for years around old folks and now that I am getting there myself I can tell you that being old in this country is no picnic. I refuse to be shoved aside and ignored and I definitely refuse to try and eke out an extra year or two by watching every morsel I eat, or by spending hours tormenting my already much worn body in a gym. I have too much to do to worry about stretching out my final years. I love life too much to waste it by clinging to it.
We seem to have no soul, no heart, left. Sure, people, some, here and there, display a bit of courage and kindness, but we have become so timid, so frightened. I suppose that is somewhat understandable, we have been through some rough spots, but come on, folks. What we have seen is nothing compared to what my folks saw. They went through World War 2, after scuffling through the Depression, and came through it all ready to roll. To prove it, they built this techno-wonderland we now live in.
We are besieged with advice from our government about our lifestyles. Every week we are told new things from our ever vigilant food fascists. No meat, especially no processed meat. No butter, no margarine, now no vegetable oils at all. Fried foods are a near sin. Eggs may be okay, but no more than one or two a week. Maybe. They'll get back to us on that one. Milk, well maybe, but you really should stick to soy or rice milk. And on and on it goes.
To make things worse, the restrictions are changed at an ever increasing rate. Two weeks ago, an announcement came out proclaiming red meat to be perfectly safe, this after years of declaring it a near poison. But, before you can grab a burger, they tell us that it likely causes kidney cancer. For years we were warned off whole milk, now they say that skim and lo-fat are no better. Butter was akin to cyanide for a long time, now it is said to be safer that the once touted margarines. Fry in vegetable oils, not animal fats, was once the word from on high. Now, we have just been told, avoid all vegetable oils.
My folks and all the parents of every kid I knew, lived on bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks, and butter. They smoked, drank gallons of coffee and most consumed a fair amount of alcohol. They worked hard, so hard that there was no need to work out in gyms. Even if they worked in offices, taking care of their property and keeping up with their kids kept them in perfectly acceptable shape.
Again, without all the fuss and without the advice from our meddlesome government and the busy- body researchers who are trying to justify the grant money they scammed out of foundations, they built the most amazing civilization the planet has ever seen. And here we sit, whining because that donut we snuck the other day may take ten minutes off our life (it likely will not hurt you half as much as worrying about it).
Admittedly, they may (emphasis on may) have lived a year or two longer if they had cut back a bit on a few things, but what good is that if you are not productive, if you are just worrying about lasting a while longer. I worked for years around old folks and now that I am getting there myself I can tell you that being old in this country is no picnic. I refuse to be shoved aside and ignored and I definitely refuse to try and eke out an extra year or two by watching every morsel I eat, or by spending hours tormenting my already much worn body in a gym. I have too much to do to worry about stretching out my final years. I love life too much to waste it by clinging to it.
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