SUFFERING ADDICTION NEEDS BAD NEWS FIX, STAT

What the heck is a suffering addiction?

A quick search turned up an answer:

Suffering and struggle are emotional addictions as strong as addictions to alcohol, nicotine and drugs.

So if you notice a pattern in your life of struggle and suffering from one issue to another with little respite in between — I’ve got news for you: you’ve got an emotional addiction.

There it is, but let’s dig deeper to link it to the mask debate and get to the bottom of the problem.

For you on the mask wearing side, good job. Keep it up. I know it’s hard, but is it insufferable?

If you can wear a mask without an emotional meltdown that drives you to buy more guns and ammo, you’re doing the right thing.

Click this link for an extra push to the undecided.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) and the World Health Organization now recommend cloth masks for the general public, but earlier in the pandemic, both organizations recommended just the opposite. These shifting guidelines may have sowed confusion among the public about the utility of masks.

But health experts say the evidence is clear that masks can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that the more people wearing masks, the better.

Still not good enough?

One Suffering Addiction Review

You suffer, I suffer, we all suffer, but really, no one more than you.

Except maybe me.

I nearly got my big toe cut off as a small child riding on the back steps of a trike. I was standing, big brother steered and pulled a wheelie just as I was pushing us faster.

The trike step pushed down on my big toe knuckle and dug a trough of blood. My mom patched me up with ten bandaids but it kept bleeding. Direct pressure, Ma.

I ended up with a scar for the memories that moved from my toe up my foot with age. There it is, a painful memory, but not worse than a game of Swinging Statue.

That’s a game where the biggest kid swings small kids by the arm and lets them fly. I landed on a sidewalk curb and broke my collarbone. Still have a bone bump for a suffering reminder.

One more? Okay.

I went through neck cancer treatment without pain pills or a feeding tube. I’ll spare you the details this time, but ask around. That’s Grade A suffering. I expected to die, but there it is. I got a load of suffering then got better, and better, and better.

From broken bones, to poison oak, to cancer, I’ve got a good lineup for a suffering addiction. Even a theme song from Carly Simon.

Suffering was the only thing that made me feel I was alive
Though that’s just how much it cost to survive in this world
‘Til you showed me how, how to fill my heart with love

Indifference To Suffering Starter Kit

I’ve been a Granddad for exactly one month today. So far the experience has been a sweet flashback to the babies my adult kids once were.

If you’ve been any kind of parent, you’ll get this:

When a baby cries, and it’s your baby, or grand baby, the sound triggers something. It’s supposed to trigger.

My wife likes to remind others that I was an over-protective parent. Maybe I was, maybe not, but grand baby’s cry brings out the nurturing nature in this old man.

And I can help with over-protection when baby sounds the suffering alarm, or if she just cuts loose for the heck of it.

Now, as geezers, we old people need some over-protection.

Please wear a mask around gray haired people like me, or your parents, or that stranger struggling to find their place in a covid19 pandemic world.

Once more for those in the back row: Wear a mask, wash hands, social distance. Three things to do that can be done.

After all, are you mixing up a vaccine? Me neither. Are you working on the logistics to deliver the vaccine? Me neither.

But you’re wearing a mask, washing your hands, and social distancing?

Doing that diminishes the suffering that people losing loved ones are going through. They see you in a mask and have renewed faith in humankind.

What do you think they see in the ‘No Mask For Me’ crowd?

I see a big “F U.” Am I wrong?