I'm in one of my intermittent "don't pay much attention to politics" moods. I've long since cast my mid-term ballot so I feel justified in tossing away the zillion-and-six ads I get in the mail telling me I need to save mankind by voting certain ways in certain categories. And I'm really tired of all the Internet Clickbait that tells me my side will win, my side will lose, America as we know it is doomed, etc.
When I was much younger, I stopped following sports because I really didn't want to care that much whether the Dodgers won. It seemed to me that my friends who did got really, really depressed when the Dodgers lost…and the joy when they won was too hollow to make up for the periods of depression when they didn't. Obviously, who wins what elected offices and which propositions pass stand to affect real life more than any sporting event ever could but I feel just as ineffectual to change the outcome. I cast my ballot. I donated to a few causes. I've done all I can.
So what else do I have to talk about this morning? I got my flu shot the other day. That's a major event in this exciting life of mine.
A fellow I know casually is mad at me because he sent me a text message and I didn't respond to it within an "acceptable period of time." That was his term and I think it means about fifteen minutes. I was napping when it arrived…a possibility that doesn't seem to have occurred to him. I also could have been someplace with no cell service, my phone could be broken or outta power or missing, I could have been in an important meeting, I could have been in the middle of a session with my Physical Therapist or some doctor, I could have been dealing with some crisis, I could have been speaking to a large audience or even a small one that deserved my undivided attention, I could have been out in the pool, I could have been in the shower, I could have been dealing with illness…
There are many, many reasons I didn't reply to his message as quickly as he expected but he leaped immediately to the assumption I was deliberately avoiding him. I wasn't…but I think I will in the future.