We survived the storms. Marion County never was in that much danger, but all the surrounding counties were. The alarms went off because of protocol, but there was no rotation anywhere over the city. We’re safe. I walked the yard with the dogs this morning and there is no noticeable damage. The cold breeze from the North is less than welcome, but we are thankfully better off than many of the areas around us. We are grateful.
Good news came from someone within the Social Security system. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s disability or Social Security proper. I know it’s not SSI because the letter specifically says that is still in process. Still, it means a month from now we should finally start getting some financial assistance. I still need to re-apply for Medicaid apparently. I thought that was being handled during the phone interview two weeks ago, but that assumption now seems to be wrong. If I can get all my ducks to at least acknowledge one another then perhaps we can find a solution so that Kat isn’t stressed from worrying about me all the time.
The dogs did not take well to yesterday’s storms, especially those early afternoon. Not only were they cuddled up in bed with me, they were both doing their best to lie on top of me. Their weight combined with arthritis pain made enduring that portion of the storm excruciating. They rarely get that anxious about anything so I was surprised by their behavior.
As I was perusing social media this morning, I noticed a post from a friend who is also dealing with chemo. She lamented how she has no one to talk with, no one to lean on and provide any level of emotional support. I’m not sure people understand that chemo and its effects are not a short-term thing. We don’t just go for a few weeks until everything is okay. Oral chemo is a multi-year treatment. Every day is a chemo day. How we feel can turn on a dime. What we’re physically capable of doing can change in an instant. We need people who will take time to help, to listen, and to be there while our bodies are being decimated in an effort to rid ourselves of this disease. Can you be one of those people?
There are so many parts of the world I fail to understand at the moment. On one hand, a woman running for NC state school superintendent is allowed to call for the public execution of people whose views she doesn’t like. Meanwhile, Ayro, the parent company of Pornhub, had to completely block access to the site in the state of Texas because of a new law requiring proof of age. I thought that technology already existed, but apparently not sufficiently to satisfy the Texas law. All of this while the Senate now debates whether to ban social media platform TikTok from the US because of fear its Chinese owners are using it to spy.
When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1850, he skewered the puritanical laws and attitudes that assaulted free speech and highlighted the hypocritical actions of those in authority, particularly the clergy. One would think that a society moving forward from that point would learn the lessons of the fictional book, see the dangers of their ways, and make some changes. Obviously, not only have we not learned, but we’ve doubled down on the nonsense of trying to regulate personal morality. We’re still frightened by the sight of a woman’s breast but not a man’s. Media routinely slut shames women whose attire is deemed inappropriate. And heaven forbid anyone have more than one sex partner. If anything, our society is worse about enforcing an unreasonable moral code now than it was 200 years ago!
We have to stand up not only for free speech rights but for freedom of personhood. I am the only one who has any right to decide what course of action is best for me and I don’t have the right to force anyone else to agree with my moral choices. What I have the right to do, however, is insist that you keep your lousy, hypocritical, religiously-based nonsense out of my life. You don’t get to limit my choices. You can take your made-up pseudo-psychology claptrap and shove it up your ass. The world doesn’t need anyone enforcing a moral code. If you need religion, or laws, to make you a good person, then chances are pretty damn high that you are not a good person.
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