eye open

It was my sophomore year in college and I had been invited by a group of guys that I knew from the freshman dorm experience to go in on renting a house.  We found a large house in West Eugene with five bedrooms.  Well, four bedrooms to be exact but the laundry room was large enough for a desk and a bed so I took it in exchange for a discount on rent.  On move in day we met Josh.  As we were going in and out with furniture and boxes through the front door he let himself in, barefoot, sat down and started talking.  He had longish blond hair and piercing blue eyes.  Because of the unusual way in which he had just walked in and become friendly he struck me as child-like.  Once we had put our boxes away and settled down a bit he said he had some weed and asked us if we wanted to smoke.  A number of us partook.  That was actually the only time I ever remember him having any weed of his own, but for the rest of that year he always seemed to be around to smoke our weed when it was available. 

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Democrat and the other a Republican. The Democrat stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, unjust, white nationalists, racists, or even as this Republican. I social distance, I wear two masks, and I take as many vaccines as they will allow me to. And the Republican, standing afar off, could not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven because he had covid and he was sick.  And he smote upon his breast, saying, God give me natural immunity! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased.  And he that humbleth himself will be based, and exalted.  

I'm mostly recovered from my bout with covid.  I had an easier time with it than many by all accounts, thanks in part to early treatment with ivermectin and massive doses of vitamin C, but I want to back up a little bit from my previous post on this subject because I fell into a trap.  People take covid so seriously that one feels compelled to counterbalance that seriousness by making light of it.  I suppose I shouldn't make light of illness, suffering and death.   Yes, the death counts are greatly exaggerated.   No, mask mandates have not been shown to reduce the spread of the virus.   Yes, the folks at Davos have seized upon this crisis as a pretense for ushering in the New World Order.   No, the vaccines are not safe or effective.   I don't deny any of these statements.  But still, when you get covid there is some suffering involved.  The worst of it for me was one night I spent repeatedly waking up, gasping for breath.  When I took a breath in it felt like there was br