Trying Our Souls

I don't know about you, but I'd like a respite from this unending series of final exams called "life."

It's bad enough finding yourself on the cusp of your anecdotage, but when the banking system as we know it collapses, the economy tumbles into and nearly past a recession, one's pension takes a wallop, Arlen Specter becomes a Democrat, newspapers start to swoon all around us, the globe is warming with every passing day, most of our citizens don't have medical insurance, and now swine flu has begun to invade our lives...well where does it bloody well end?

Or is this perpetual state of angst the normal state of things for the next little while...like the rest of our time on this vale of tears? OK, my time, if you're really picky.

Maybe we should just find a good book, a wee dram of something to help us along, a comfortable chair, and just try to relax. No really.

K likes to listen to the gloom and doom guys on the radio through the night; each morning I hear about some new conspiracy designed to poison the food supply, to generate civil unrest and violence, to allow our country to be taken over by [fill in your own damn blank], and to ensure that American supremacy will come to an abrupt end.

Men don't handle these complexities very well - we want to know who won and who lost, no matter how meaningless the competition might be.

Women seem to have a knack for making sense of very complicated situations, and I think they deserve a shot. Even I am willing to learn how to manage the vacuum cleaner, and I'm already a pretty fair cook and bake a nasty good loaf of whole wheat bread. I could even catch up on Jerry Springer and Oprah and learn about new decorating ideas for the bathroom and talk to my friends about the NFL draft and the local team's prospects for the upcoming season.

And not have to worry about all this other stuff. Sounds like bliss to me.