Covid-19 - One Less Dog In The Hunt

February 18, 2021February 7, 2021

The Edge

I intend this to be my last post which is COVID related. As an exception, I may have a throwback article about the impact to business, but it’s not planned. For this post, I’m going to talk about something more directly related to the virus and its impact on individuals. It’s something I’ve touched on briefly in past posts. It’s fear. More specifically, it’s the fear of death that surrounds this illness.

One of my favorite movies is TOP GUN. It’s fun, it has planes, and it has relationships. I really shouldn’t have to insert a spoiler alert here, because by now everyone on the planet should have seen this movie, but here it is: **SPOILER ALERT** – The scene where Goose dies, has a huge emotional impact. But there is another scene I want to hit on today. It’s early on in the movie and really sets up the situation for TOP GUN’s story line. Cougar, a Navy F-14 pilot, has just come face to face with a Russian MIG. The experience forces him to realize he is in a life or death situation. It shakes him. He is married, has a young son he hasn’t even seen yet, and death scares him.

February 7, 2021February 7, 2021

Catching up

Okay, so I’ve been there, and I’ve done it. I can actually speak from experience now. THESE ARE MY OPINIONS and we all know the comparison between opinions and assholes. I AM NO EXPERT. I am not a doctor, but I am a reasoning individual, with at least an average education, and the ability to research and think on my own. I am going to share my opinions and I am going to call BULLSHIT on a number of things with which I find conflict. I’m going to have this post and one other on the subject of COVID-19 and then I’m moving on.

I am certainly fortunate in my Covidventure. I had it and my family had it. We were all fortunate, and though there are several things in my mind that I feel contributed to our experience, the fact is many others don’t fair as well. In fact, I’ve recently attended the funeral of a family friend who lost a battle with COVID-19. He was much younger than me. He was more active than me. It’s tragic, but my feelings and opinions haven’t changed.

October 27, 2020October 24, 2020

Think Stats

With the focus on COVID-19, and the currently over 220,000 deaths, it’s easy to get lost in what is happening around us. Death is something that gets people worked up, especially when we feel it is unnecessary, could be prevented, or that someone died before their time. Birth and Death are two things that every human being on this planet have in common. No matter what our differences, where we live, how rich or how poor, our ethnicity, our social status, religion, sexual orientation, or gender — we are all born and we all will die. When we talk about death, it is almost natural for emotion to rule the conversation. But sometimes it is important to develop a perspective, to look at reality, and to recognize the facts.

According to the Population Reference Bureau (PBR), the United States, average annual death rates climbed by 400,000 between 2009 and 2018; from 2.4 million to 2.8 million. Factors could include aging population or growing underlying health issues such as heart disease, cancer, or other illness. The three top causes of death in 2018 were heart disease, cancer, and accidents.

July 12, 2020October 24, 2020

Fear itself

“The only thing we have to fear… is fear itself” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt

From the beginning I’ve tried to keep politics out of this blog, and I hope it can be recognized that I am still trying to do so with this post, though I’m sure some will see an issue one way or another. I feel what I have to say isn’t political, but it will be controversial.

This blog was intended to explore a lot of things, but one of the main points of focus was the aftermath of life change, specifically the loss of employment. One of the land mines to avoid in that aftermath is fear. So many of us live life fearing one thing or another. Losing a job — your only source of income, having a mountain of debt hanging over you and no income to throw at it, looking for an answer to your problem and coming up empty; those things can strike some real fear into a person.

The truth is people are filled with fear — fears of failure, rejection, loss, emptiness. Fears of change, judgement, and uncertainty swarm around us. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, 18.1% of the U.S. population or 40 million adults are affected by anxiety. In the UK Mental Health Today reports 49% of young people ages 18 -24 years old claimed high levels of stress. While 36% of women claimed anxiety related to self-esteem, body image, and appearance.

April 11, 2020April 18, 2020

What’s Next?

Pluck Makes Luck. Good saying. It’s tougher than that when you’re on the other side. With the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the economy and jobs, some of you are on the other side. I feel your pain. I spent two years on the other side. There isn’t a person alive that can realistically claim I wasn’t working towards work.

I can’t say why it took so long for a guy with my experience to find a job. I can speculate as to why employers weren’t interested, but they don’t spend a lot of time explaining their reasons. I had an interview where that question was asked. “Why haven’t you been hired in a two year period?” My response was perhaps a little too telling of my frustration. “After this interview, you’ll have a better answer for that than I do. I hope you’ll share that with me.” He didn’t.

Fortunately, I finally found someone to take a chance on me. Maybe it was just a matter of timing. If you believe in divine intervention, then the answer might be that the right job just hadn’t opened yet. If you don’t believe in some kind of greater plan, then it’s just a matter of time, work, and frustration.