I asked my wife to pick me up a daily vitamin at the store. She grabbed “Centrum Silver.” Life comes at you fast. Seems like yesterday I was slamming Bud Lights with McDonald’s fries as a chaser and now I’m nursing a wine spritzer, eating asparagus and taking Centrum Silver. Sad.
A recent column about my lack of participation in recycling efforts on behalf of the planet’s health brought a colorful response from a “reader.” An email to me indicated the world would be a lot better off with me at the bottom of a compost pile. Honestly, it’s a funny insult that has made me laugh. I’m not sure he’s accurate. I suspect the needle for a better or worse world would not move much if I were here or not. If his recycling prowess makes his existence more impactful, I’m happy for him, but I’m still shoving my unwashed plastic and glass into the nearest landfill.
I was also humored by the escalation in the varying points of view. I said I don’t care to recycle. He said the world would be better off with me dead or very uncomfortable. That seems to have taken a fast track to awkward escalation. Hands have been thrown for much less. That’s the new Bidenesque compassion we were hoping for in 2021.
I also think it is illegal to compost a human body in a general compost pile, but I’m not sure of that. I’ve never had it come up in my daily routine; but again, I don’t own or manage a compost pile. Check with your local law enforcement officials before burying your neighbor that doesn’t recycle.
I have grappled with the Dr. Fauci conflict in our country. Like many of you, I started out really enamored with Fauci and his apparent grasp of science. It dawned on me that these national science experts fall into the same category as our doctors. We have a weird relationship with doctors.
Quick, have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve got a really bad doctor.” No, you haven’t. It is an odd case of human nature that plays out. People always think they have the best doctor. “You should try my guy, he’s really good.” Hearts, prostates, cancer and just general medicine doctors are someone that we are trained to trust, even when they don’t deserve that trust. You never hear someone say, “don’t go to my heart doctor, he’s terrible. Been wrong ten or twelve times with my treatment.”
The same has happened with these national experts. Fauci has been consistently wrong about the virus, yet some still want to trust his word on the issue. Unfortunately, his inconsistency and flat-out wrong answers over a short period of time have proved him other than an expert, yet many go on with the trust because it is an innate human trait to the relationship between doctor and patient. Probably should reexamine our general trust in those affairs.
If you disagree, don’t hesitate to wish me underneath a vat of unused vaccine.
(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@gmail.com or resting at the bottom of a compost pile, wondering why he wasted money on Centrum Silver)