I have been poked and prodded, studied and examined, from head to toe—well almost. Within a very few weeks, I have been to the cardiologist, the dentist, the endodontist, the podiatrist, the ophthalmologist, and my family physician. I have worn a Holter monitor, had a mammogram, learned that my eyes aren’t as good as I thought and rechargeable batteries are no longer available for my hearing aids. I have had blood drawn and, today, a root canal. I am through, I tell you---through, through, through!
Mostly,
the intensity of my medical update is my own fault. During the omicron surge, I
cancelled appointment after appointment. When it comes to medical matters, I am
not one to do it today if I can put it off till tomorrow. Eventually, of
course, my conscience catches up with me—along with a little voice that says, “what
if?”
Anyway,
today was the root canal. I will not lie and say I was not nervous, because I was.
Afraid of the fear and anticipation. I would not want to have the procedure often,
but it was painless—just a lot of lie still, don’t move, and don’t’ swallow
kind of stuff. The doctor was kind, the set-up incredibly efficient and
professional—and now it is behind me. I am so grateful.
I read
a blog today by an author who is a good friend. We’ve never met, but we’re
Facebook friends, and we agree on a lot of things. Today she wrote about
distraction in these difficult times—how hard it is to write. I really found
that true these last few weeks when I was so occupied with medical matters—and dread
of the root canal. All that seemed to pile on top of Ukraine trauma and global
worry, for what Putin has done attacks not just Ukraine but the balance of the
global system.
I
think most of us, at one time or another, think what’s the point? What’s the
point of putting one foot in front of the other, if the world as we know it is
going to end? Oh, I’m not talking about nuclear holocaust, though that
possibility looms on the horizon again as it did in the 1950s. I’m talking
about a change in world order—from democracy to autocracy, Fascism, dictatorship,
whatever you want to call it when a handful of the entitled rule and have all
the wealth while they make life miserable for the rest of us. As a person of
faith, you can’t tell me that is what God intended for our earth.
We see
all the danger signs, the biggest of course being the ongoing brutality in Ukraine.
But never overlook the small warning signs here at home—book banning, laws
passed by the states that over-ride the Constitution and a Supreme Court that
seems inclined to look the other way, the denigration of public education in
favor of charter schools, the overreach into people’s personal lives, be it
their reproductive life or their parenting of trans children. It’s all very scary.
The
blog I read today gave me pause about one thing: the cozy mysteries (hopefully
humorous) that I write seem so insignificant, so trivial in the face of the
world situation. But neighbor Mary reassured me tonight that people need the
distraction, they need to escape to another world. And heaven knows, as an
author, I need that other world too.
So
tomorrow, I begin again after a hiatus, putting one word on top of another until,
the Lord willing, I end up with a novel. It’s a challenge I’ve issued to
myself.
You
too, no matter what your life consists of, can put one foot in front of the
other. And then contribute in whatever way you can to support the people of
Ukraine, to fight censorship and authoritarianism here at home. None of us can afford
to sit back in complacency.
Remember
the words of William Faulkner in his 1949 acceptance speech at the Novel
Banquet in Stockholm: “I believe that man will not only endure. He will
prevail.”
Preaching
over.
.
