Every One Struggles With Something...

Struggle is relative.  I realize this.  Still, recently I find myself having little sympathy for the kinds of struggles about which I hear people complaining.  Sure, we all need hair cuts.  My feet could seriously use a pedicure.  I'd love to shop for Spring clothes and wear makeup to work, instead of a mask and face shield all day.  For now though, those are our realities and they are realities we all have to endure together.  We can either accept them or try to fight against them, but either way, the virus COVID-19 will not relent.  It cares not about your opinion.

Until now I suppose I never realized how many people in the world have never actually dealt with struggle or uncertainty.  It became part of my life while I was relatively young, so struggle and uncertainty joined the bandwagon with me as I traversed through all the stages of my life.  For years I lived witht he threat of impending renal failure, so when it finally happened, my doctors were surprised at "how well" I took the news.   I explained to one of them that being surprised that my kidneys had failed would be akin to being surprised you're having a baby after you've been pregnant for nine months. I expected it, it happened, I adapted.

But unexpected changes happen too, and I expect to some degree we all experience that.  Job losses, breakups, deaths of loved ones all take us on a ride of unknown self exploration.  I've lived through those types of things too.  I had a friend who unexpectedly committed suicide.  I lost my parents.  I've lost my material goods, like my home and livelihood.  Some of those things you recover from; you can always make more money and buy another house.  Other things, you seem to spend  a lifetime trying to comprehend.  Like why would a 27 year old take his own life?  There's just not an acceptable answer to that one.

Globally, COVID-19 seems to have thrown a lot of people for a loop.  Adapt, Improvise, Overcome are concepts lost on today's society.  Our inability to band together to help one another has been magnified by this pandemic.  When I was jobless a year ago, I had to resort to finding odd jobs to make ends meet while I looked for work.  A few people pitched in to help me out, threw work my way, etc...One employer had me do hours and hours of work for her but never paid me a dime.  I sold a car to a friend who was in a pinch, offering to let her make payments to me for it.  She ended up only paying me the inital two hundred dollars.  Let's be honest, many, many people are selfish, and that selfishness is blatantly evident throughout this pandemic.

People are out of sorts about wearing masks because they're uncomfortable.  They are "tired of staying home."  They're worried about the infringements on their civil rights.  I've always been a firm beliver in basic human rights to make choices for ourselves that are right for us.  I've also always been a firm believer in considering the rights of others as well.  For instance, if you want to own a dog that barks, that's your perogative, but if your dog barks all night and keeps me awake, your rights have officially infringed upon my right to have a good night's sleep.  Likewise, your refusal to wear a mask in a public place infringes on MY right to stay healthy and NOT DIE froom COVID-19.

Don't mistake my post for something political.  It is not.  I believe strongly in medical science.  Medical science keeps me alive and has done so for 8 years so far.  Medical science will no doubt keep you alive at some point in your life.  This has nothing to do with conspiracy theories or who gets voted president.  It's about doing the right thing with respect to human life.  You cannot call yourself pro-life if you are okay with sacrificing the vulnerable and the elderly to this disease in order to cultivate "herd immunity."

And if you go out in public without taking precautions, you risk your health and the health of those you love.  As someone who lives with a disease over which I have no control, I can tell you that you are a fool to risk your health over a disease that you could avoid getting by practicing social distancing, wearing PPE and using good hygiene skills.  It's that easy.  Learn to be content at home.  Learn to enjoy your own company. Learn to respect life--not just yours but everyone else's too.


And if you are going to spend a day praying, pray that God will give you compassion for others, because that seeems to be what society lacks the most these days.

From now on let the politicians hash out their differences and listen instead to what the health experts are telling us about this disease.  My life, the lives of people I love, and the lives of people YOU love depend on our ability to lay politics aside and listen to common sense from people who know what they're talking about.  This isn't about who is right or wrong from the political spectrum, it's about saving lives and sparing people from an illness they don't have to endure.  Can't we agree, at least, on that?