“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
~ Mark Twain, “Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World.”
If that doesn’t sum up current events, I don’t know what does. From the price of a barrel of oil dropping into negative numbers to this week’s “say what?” announcement that giant Asian hornets — nicknamed “Murder Hornets” — have made their way to the U.S. and been identified in Washington state. They’re known for ripping the heads off honeybees. I’m picturing a kind of Godzilla for bees. Interestingly, the insects are farmed as a “delicacy” in Asia.
A friend of mine in New York state who works in the entomology department at Cornell said not to fret too much. One colony was found in British Columbia last year and destroyed, and a single, dead hornet was found in December in Blaine, Washington.
Seriously, though, “murder hornets” are easier on the eye than the artist’s rendering of the novel coronavirus that’s now seared on our retinas. Look at it long enough and it starts to resemble a cross between the old Bumble Ball toy (https://youtu.be/GL2x2bFBB8s) and the antagonist from Veggie Tales “The Fib From Outerspace” (https://youtu.be/YWmXZeebBlQ).
May is National Mental Health Month. Kudos to the Town of Rangely for its official mental health awareness proclamation last Friday.
This is an excellent time to evaluate our mental health, as the pervasive stress, uncertainty and upheaval of the last few months may have triggered underlying mental health issues, like anxiety or depression, or exacerbated other mental health problems. Here are five mental health questions to ask yourself. Note, your answers may be strongly influenced by current events…
- How am I feeling today? (Mentally and physically.)
- What’s taking up most of my headspace?
- When did I last eat a whole meal?
- Am I tired?
- What will I engage in today that will bring me joy?
If you find yourself struggling, seek help, just the same way you would seek help if you fell down and broke your arm. It’s no different.
May is also Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Month. Kudos to Adrienne Wix for sharing her story. So many of us suffer from silent ailments, the so-called invisible illnesses, that are frequently misdiagnosed and overlooked. As someone has said, “Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
The furor over wearing face coverings or masks is starting to remind me of the seat belt debate in 1987, when the State of Colorado passed an adult seat belt law. I recall a lot of outrage over perceived “government overreach” and “taking away our rights” from that law. There were arguments about how sometimes seat belts cause harm and even death, with statistics and gruesome stories to back them up. Seat belts were uncomfortable. They were inconvenient. They were time-consuming. Opinion columns and letters to the editor cried, “It’s not fair!” and “You can’t tell us what to do!”
Sound familiar?
