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| Photo by Eugen Nosko from Wkimedia Commons |
Four of us got there early for choir practice--Shirley, Mabel, Serena, and myself--and while we were waiting we fell to griping about our husbands, something that’s been known to happen when a group of women get together.
“I could just strangle Andy,” Shirley said. “His blood pressure keeps going up and up. It was 165 over something last month, and the doctor told him he really needed to lose weight, change his diet, and get some exercise. I’m scared to death he’s going to have a heart attack. But Andy just shrugs it off. He says your blood pressure is either going up or down at any point in time, so it's really not a big deal.”
“Huh,” said Mable. “You know what? Rodney told me almost exactly the same thing when I got after him about his weight. He waved it off. Claimed your weight is always either going up or down at any point in time, so it really isn’t a big deal. When I mentioned that his only seems to go one direction--up--he just repeated himself and heaped some more mashed potatoes and gravy on his plate.”
“Gee, that’s funny,” said Serena. “Lou’s cholesterol has climbed up over 240, and our doctor wanted to put him on some medication and an exercise program. But Lou brushed him off. He said your cholesterol is always going either up or down, so it’s not really that big a deal. I told Lou that when it gets up as high as his is, it’s definitely a big deal, but he just sat there watching that TV. I’m not sure he even heard me.”
“Hmm. You know what? I’ve been getting that same excuse from Ace,” I volunteered. “He’s been dragging around, having headaches, and losing weight, but he won’t do anything about it. His blood sugar level was 190 when we checked it yesterday. I’m afraid he’s going to have foot problems or go blind if he doesn’t start taking care of himself, but he just pretends nothing's wrong. Where are they getting all this nonsense?”
“I came right out and asked Lou,” said Donna, “He’s been following the presidential primaries really closely. And it turns out that when Dr. Carson gets asked about global warming--the way the planet keeps getting hotter and hotter--he just says....”
I guess the light went on for all of us simultaneously. Before she could finish her sentence, we all chimed in: "... the temperature's either going up or down at any point in time, so it really is not a big deal."
© Tony Russell, 2016
1 comment:
Good one, Tony. It's always amazing to me the human race's penchant for denial when faced with scientific facts that go against their belief systems. Am reading McCullough's book on the Panama Canal now. In the 1880's the common belief was that malaria was caused by "swamp gas". Several scientists connected the cause to mosquitoes but they were largely treated as heretics and fools. It wasn't until years later and many thousands died before the connection was finally made. The hospitals themselves were fertile breeding grounds for malaria with no screens on the windows and bowls of water under the feet of all the beds to protect the patients from ants.
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