Health? Nuts!

There's nothing original in observing that it's unpleasant to be sick. I shy away from writing tired stuff if I can help it, but that may be to my detriment considering how well formulaic, done-to-death material tends to do. In any case, I'm under the weather (meaning sick and not hung over this time), and I can't think about anything else. One may as well write about being sick if the alternative is to write nothing, and that's where I stand.

I was recently in close proximity to forty thousand people from out of town, and I suspect that one of them may have been sick, passing it on to me. I don't bear that person any ill will (unless they knew very well they were sick), but I would appreciate it if they could reach out to me and let me know what's happening with them so that I can plan day by day. If they get worse, I'd like some notice so that I can rearrange my engagements.

Damned Lies

I'm prepared to put up with a lot from those close to me. After all, they're only human, isn't that what people say? Being so, it's only in their nature to falter even when their intentions and motives are good. They will let you down when you are counting on them, and sometimes actively work against you. Worse still, they will lie right to your face. As I said though, they are human, and I forgive them. What of that which is not human, however? The alarm on my phone failed me enough times that I had to just stop using it. Forgiveness comes slowly in that case.

Something I'm still wrestling with is a recently acquired thermometer. As I write this, I feel sick. I'm congested, coughing and sneezing. I feel too hot and I am getting headaches. Not to worry though, because the thermometer report that I'm being delusional, and my temperature is in fact well within the parameters for good health. A lot of other people may have left the critical thinking to machines, but I still handle that myself. The GPS can take a stab at plotting a course to my destination, but when it starts directing me off cliffs and into lakes, I take over again. So it is with this deceitful thermometer.

When Your Friends Are Sick Of You

It's interesting the things that strain a friendship. A lack of things in common dooms things from the start. Shakespeare advised that one should neither a lender nor a borrower be, and money is oft at the heart of discord. Should one friend be overly needy, that can be an issue. That's just one way in which friendship can be harmed by one overlooking the interests of the other. In short, there are plenty of reasons why friends might arrive at loggerheads. To me, one of the most interesting is illness.

People loathe getting sick. The child is content with any excuse to stay home from school, as he is most commonly secure in the knowledge that the parent will see to his health and financial standing as always. The adult has no such assurances, and avoids disease like the plague, so to speak. That means avoiding the diseased. If I saved one of my closest friends from an assassin's bullet and appeared the next day red-faced, sneezing and coughing, I would read in that person's face not gratitude or admiration, but frantic worry and terror. Should I then fail to shrink away, I would then be resented for jeopardizing that person's life and well-being.