I have the room to talk. Do you?

Read on at your own risk. Fair warning. Depending on your comments, my reaction will range from indifferent to love to kicking you out until I can calm down. Proceed as you see fit. I sure am.

I have the room to talk. I have the street cred to talk. I have the pain to talk. I have something you, well, more'n 99 percent of you, don't have.

Before I go any further, lemme add this - I get plenty of hate mail. Business as usual. This one is different. So, for those who see fit to berate, accuse and otherwise vilify and flame me for what follows, S.T.F.U. I have more, far more, in this than you do. 

HAYMAKER INCOMING

I approved the Do Not Resuscitate order for my mother. Because of COVID-19. 

I told the doctors to pull the plug. She died around 7:15 p.m. Sunday. The last time I saw her in person was in March the day before the wreck that landed her in the hospital and ended with her death at that same hospital. It was more than three weeks since I last spoke to her on the phone.

I'll give you a moment to recover from that Mike Tyson haymaker outta nowhere.

Over it? Good. So, before you fire up the Illudium q-36 explosive space modulator, remember how much skin I have in this game. Or don't. Because if you see fit to attack me over what follows, you won't get a second opportunity to do so.

In case you don't get that, I gave doctors and nurses the OK to pull the plug on life support for my mother if they felt she could not recover from the damage COVID-19 caused her. They said she could not. And, if you still want to rake me over metaphorical coals for my opinions below, you'll be doing it without me knowing 'cause I will boot you out of my life both IRL and online.

Now then.

ONE OPINIONATED CURMUDGEON

Curmudgeon. A polite way of saying crotchety old bastard. We hold unpopular opinions, so saying opinionated curmudgeon is redundant. Curmudgeons also dispense wisdom, so the appellation COB is not completely correct. Yes, I am saying I dispense wisdom. I get it from people much wiser than I and pass it along.

You are still welcome to refer to me as a COB.

During this global scare I have not worn a mask. I have not worn gloves. I have, rarely, used hand sanitizer. I don't like the stuff. I have done the "social distancing thing" because I was pretty much doing that before. I like some distance.

I have shaken hands, hugged and otherwise made physical contact with people I'd otherwise make such contact with. The day I do not hug Earl The Pearl Perry when I see him, call Edgar Perry 'cause I'm dead. Lotsa other people in that "Yer getting hugged no matter what" group.

I'm pentecostal. I'll hug anything I can catch.

BOUT DEM RULES

Rules, someone said, are meant to be broken. Sometimes, rules needs to be fed into a wood chipper. Sometimes rules need to be hit with an atomic disintegrator.

I've gone into stores, seen the one-way aisles, and done my best to adhere to that. This probably does not make sense to you. I adhere to the store's aisle directions because that is a private business. They have the right to run their business the way they wish. If I don't like it, I won't shop there.

While I do not have a Costco anywhere near me, I would not shop there because they require customers to have a face mask. I support Costco's ability to make that decision and I support their decision. There is no contradiction here.

I do support the businesses which made decisions on their own.

I also believe, if you need a license from the state to run your business (I object to state licensing), then you have agreed to abide by the state's orders. The state says shut down, then your business has to shut down. Again, you signed the papers agreeing to do as the state ordered.

I am angry (My failing there. Anger is a failing of the person who is angry. You, me, that guy who keeps ducking out of sight when you look his way, control our emotions. No other person can make you angry except you. Only I can make myself angry.) at government for issuing stay-at-home orders, orders to close businesses and etc. I have ignored those orders. I will continue to ignore those orders. I believe such orders are illegal, a violation of the Constitution and a violation of basic human rights. I believe it is a step toward tyranny.

The guy who was arrested while in a kayak in the sea, I believe in New Jersey, …  dude. He made my hero list.

Those who went outside in masks and gloves, I support you. Rock on! Those who did not wear such items, I support you too. Rock on!

You choose. I chose and you have the same right.

I am mad (again, I failed) about the bailout payments.

A WORD TO THE CRITICS

This word to the critics is in addition to the above disclaimers.

To the gent who told me "You need to suit up" outside a store I entered - Kind sir, I thank you for your concern and cordially invite you to commit improbable acts upon your own personage. I was suited up, shoes, pants, shirt.

To those who say "I don't want to hear it" when the tyranny and the rest of the nonsense RE: C-19 come up, stop reading. If you are still here, note that I abstained from further comment around you and on your social media. I respect your decision and your right to make that decision. You may, or may not, do the same here. See advisory above.

To all those who say I am putting others at risk by my behavior, you speak truth. I put others at risk when I get behind the wheel of a vehicle, walk down the street, run a business, speak face to face to others at any time without wearing a face mask, shake hands, touch something, etc etc etc.

In case you need a reminder, C-19 killed my momma.

RISK

To live is to be a risk and encounter risk. 

"In 2018, over 46,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. Over 36,500 died in traffic accidents. Nearly 40,000 died from gun violence." Scientific American.

(Aside - a significant number of gun violence deaths were suicides, nearly all handguns. A significant number were inner-city gang violence with handguns. The scary "assault rifles" deaths are a blip at a percent or three)

Furthermore, how many colds, flu and other transmissible diseases have YOU passed along during your life? To a person with a compromised immune system, any virus or bacteria can be fatal. I don't see you doing much to protect those people when you go out without wearing protective gear.

I have asthma. I have compromised lungs from walking into a cloud of anhydrous ammonia when I was 5. A simple common cold can literally land me in the emergency room. Flu could knock me flat for days, more'n a week even. Some day, it may kill me. Pneumonia, which already kills plenty of people, is worse for me.

So, how ya doin' there by not putting ME at risk?

Yeah.

You tell me C-19 is not the same as all them others?

Tell that to people who die each year from the flu and explain to them why you didn't "suit up."

Ah right. You cannot do that. They are dead.

CHOICES

So, S.T.F.U. Unless, of course, you've had to pull the plug on a sibling, parent or child. In which case, we share something and I'll listen to you, unless you engage in ad hominem. Then, you gone. 

As the abortion rights crowd likes to say, "My body. My choice."

But, they say, your choice is affecting other people.

Ya don't say? I am not gonna get into the abortion debate. I simply say any choice you make is likely to affect someone else. See above.

SUITING UP

I see people wearing gloves.

Once you touch something with a glove, that glove is contaminated. Any germs on whatever you touched are now on the glove. Anything ELSE you touch with those gloves is also contaminated.

How many diseases have you spread?

I read a post from a gent who said he carries a cane, not for himself but anyone who is not wearing protective gear who gets to close. He promises to whop them with the cane.

Let that settle in. He will launch a physical attack on anyone who gets too close, I'm guessing within reach of the cane. 

Have we as a nation really sunk this low?

Yes.

I add, someone hits me with a cane, one or both of us will not be getting up again without help.

FEAR THIS

A radio station I listen to has a promo, "Hey dude, if you're scared, STAY HOME!"

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path."

Yanno the difference between a hero and a coward? The hero faces his fear and pushes forward. Coward hides or runs away.

I refuse to live my life in fear. I am not ruled by my fear and I will not be ruled by your fear. I will make some accommodations for your fear, but only to the point of helping you get past it and through it.

That is me. You make your own choice. 

You are even welcome to insist I abide by your choice. Don't be surprised when I refuse to do so.