SERIOUSLY?

     It's getting dire - I am writing this at work and have exhausted my food supply for the day. There are 57 minutes left until I can leave - I am not sure I can make it. For snack in the morning, I had a small bag of trail mix and some pepper jack cheese and crackers. Then before lunch, I polished off a banana. For my actual lunch, I had a turkey sandwich and a snack bag of grapes. For my afternoon snack, I had a few Girl Scout cookies, and now... I wait - wasting away. Maybe writing something will get me through...

    (Whew! I made it.)

     ...Back in the day when my weekly print column covered the state (and beyond), I used to give away tremendous 'Berman's Bits' t-shirts (best shirts ever) I had made up as prizes for excellent trivia questions, drawings, and the like. I even went through a tremendous 'What-would-you-trade-for-a-Berman's-Bits' T-shirt'? period. One amazing trade I remember was a personal guided tour through the DYS facility in Manchester - woo-hoo!

     None of that has anything directly to do with what follows except the t-shirt featured a quote blazoned across the back. The quote is "Life is much too serious to take seriously." It really is! Especially these days.
     
     These days there have been more than a few memes along the way about toilet paper, nurses, and the police joking about serious things. As we are now learning with the Corona virus, matters are very serious! To cope, I and many others appear to make light of it all, but in reality, I suspect we all know it is deadly serious. But instead of wringing my hands and lamenting, it's easier to joke about it. If there is something we can do, we do it. If not, we do the best we can and move on. 

     Back in 1957, On the Beach, a novel by Nevil Shute was published. It follows different people in Melbourne, Australia, as they await deadly radiation from the northern hemisphere comes closer and closer following a nuclear war. How they handle their impending deaths is the novel.

     In a way, I feel the same way waiting to see what happens with the virus. There have been other novels and movies dealing with diseases, vampires, and zombies. But the thing is they are all fiction - or should be. Today, I am wondering if i will get the virus, how bad it will be, and if I will survive. We can read all the books we want, see all the movies we want, but they are escapist entertainment.

     Back when I taught a course in science fiction, we looked at future possibilities. The books and stories were a warning of what could happen if we didn't wake up and change course. It's happening.

     On a positive note, today, I am okay. As long as I can say that every morning, it's all good. We all should do the same.

     Today, I am okay. I embrace that.