The pandemic has made blogging difficult. I don’t do anything. How many times can I talk about walking to the store? I was talking to a friend, and she said, “What else is happening?” My response is nothing. That gave us something to talk about; how frustrating it is to not do anything. As Omicron wanes I might start going back to my Tuesday trip to the movies. Tuesdays as AMC has a discount then.
There is something new. My roommate had some COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive on a at home rapid test. She got retested by professionals and both the rapid and PCR came back negative. We’re still being careful. She’s staying to her room for the most part and when I’m in the shared areas after she’s been out, I wear a mask. Fortunately, we have separate bathrooms. It’s fortunate that my COVID-19 concerns are intellectual not emotional. I’m not afraid. The only thing I’ve worried about with COVID-19 is that my lack of fear for myself will lead to me infecting someone else. That fear is palpable. I’m a good Jew, lots of guilt.
Guilt! That reminds me of something I wanted to write about. I have thoughts all the time then forget about them before I blog because like dreams there’s nothing physical to attach the memories to. Puritanism is an anathema to me. Most examples drive me up a wall. It’s not just the uptight religious Puritans that come to mind when we hear the word. I don’t interact with them very often. The ones that most commonly annoy me are people whose values I share, but who take it to extremes. They won’t tolerate any deviations from what they think is right. That’s what makes them puritans with a small p. What does that have to do with guilt? My lack of toleration for puritanism makes me a puritan.
As that hurts my moral compass I’ll move on to something related, the idea of toleration. Saying you tolerate something is an implied criticism of it. We don’t tolerate good things; we tolerate unpleasant things. Religious tolerance is a case in point. The British Toleration Act allowed for the practice to some non-Anglican denominations, but the worshippers still faced official and unofficial discrimination. That’s a far cry from true Freedom of Religion.
I’m fine with someone saying “I’ll can tolerate smoking” as smoking is undeniably an irritant, it even has objective physical manifestations. I’m not fine with saying “We’ll tolerate gays” as there’s nothing wrong with being gay. It’s insulting to put it that way. Sexual orientation is not something that should be judged. It is fine to say, “I’ll tolerate my partner performing [insert sex act].” You might not enjoy it but do it to please your partner. The sex part isn’t important. Everyone in a relationship will at times do things with their partner, or even a friend, that they don’t enjoy but that they can tolerate.” That kind of toleration is a virtue. As much as it pains me, I should not say that I can tolerate Yankee fans. Even though that hurts my soul it’s not an objective evil or even irritant. I’m not that good a person so I will say it. I’d like to be better, but I can tolerate my need to tolerate Yankee fans.
What about tolerating intolerance? That’s where it gets difficult. Zero tolerance can easily become intolerance. I wish I had a straightforward way of judging what’s right and wrong, but I don’t. I’ll just have to tolerate not knowing and even sometimes making mistakes, because both are unavoidable. Tolerating puritanism, which is tolerating intolerance is a proper use of the word. It can get so meta. I have to teach myself to tolerating other people not tolerating intolerance. My head will explode if I continue this.
I got woke up early 6:45 this morning which is not unusual. What is unusual is that I decided to get out of bed despite not getting to sleep until 2 AM. I’m working at getting my sleep schedule back to Midnight to 8 AM. Right now, I could easily fall asleep. I’m going to try not to. If I don’t nap maybe, I’ll be able to get to sleep closer to midnight. I will force myself to take a walk today. It’s cold but it’s beautiful out. With a snowstorm expected Saturday I should buy more milk and eggs. I’ll need them by then. Wish me luck getting out of the house. Now on to breakfast. I think I’ll go for grits ala Horvendile. I haven’t had that in ages.
Addendum: I copied this entry to post online but started to fall asleep before I could. I snapped out of it. If I let myself I’d be sleeping in one minute. .
Wise Madness 