Coming Up For Air

Hi, I’m the Abyss Appreciator. You might remember me from such self-help tapes as “I Lost Everything, and I Learned to Appreciate Tap Water” and “Who Moved My Thank You?”

But seriously folks, I’m resurfacing, and I picked Halloween for it. Reason why? My brother turned 52 today. Also, I got sidelined with Covid, and I also have to keep things running in the household. Luckily, Covid coincided with my days off, and I was back to normal (as in not contagious) very fast. Now, as far as the cornucopia of horseshit Covid brought with it? I am still dealing with it. The fatigue. The irritable attitude from aches and pains it’s amplified. Incessant coughing, sinus pressure and my first sinus infection.

4th and Long With No Timeouts, 10 Seconds On The Clock

Given the nature of what other people are going through on a mass scale concerning food insecurity, my recent challenges pale in comparison to those who really are experiencing major hardship. At this point, it doesn’t matter how they arrived at their position. All that matters is that we take a moment to really appreciate that if you’re not in a position of food insecurity, to use every fiber of your being to express humble gratitude. It doesn’t matter if those affected have poor eating habits, are overweight, are struggling feeding multiple children, are living way above their means and still relying on SNAP benefits. Any negative opinion towards the above people on SNAP benefits is coming from a place of judgment, and I kindly ask you to stop. To have crossed the event horizon of hopelessness into giving up - that is a very real and scary place to be. How do I know? I have been in the depths of despair myself, and anyone who were to have told me to “pick myself up by my bootstraps” could have gone straight to hell. It is easy for this issue to turn into a mental health issue. For those who have read “Freakonomics,” it is a slippery slope from this to how it will affect society in 15-20 years. If any children are going through the worst of it, how can we expect them to be well adjusted adults if no one is giving them any help and are expected to figure it out on their own?

Be Motherfucking Kind

I ask you humbly, no matter your position. No matter your influence. No matter your upbringing, your amount of commas in your net worth, no matter your amount of accolades from those who set you up right. Laughing at what other humans are enduring, and teaching our offspring to laugh at their expense is something any of organized religion’s Messiahs would frown upon. I know when I started this newsletter and blog, I said that religion would be checked at the door, but I may have to digress on it. So many of us live by any given book, and as such, I have to say that if you live black and white by what the books say, then live 100% by those books. Not jingoistic doctrine, not any crab mentality, not anything that would make any Messiah hang their head in shame. We are all in this together. We are ALL in this fucking thing together.

#gratefulAF

Oh, and here are some mountains.

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