Justice, Zoom Dysmorphia, Outrage Culture, My Apology to a Future Humanoid

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
— Benjamin Franklin

Good morning beautiful people; I trust you got a great night of sleep; we clocked another 9 hours,  we have good sleep habits on top of our mountain.  We had a good day yesterday; the boys are working on the deck and making significant progress, we had to run down the hill to get a tire taken care of, and we ran a couple of errands. Then, after work, we came home and did some weed whacking for my friend’s wedding he will be hosting here soon.

Bay arrived about 5:00; after our chores, I made parmesan crusted chicken with capers, and my wife made spaghetti squash; both were delicious.  After dinner, Bay kicked my butt in Gin, and we settled in to watch a movie.  We will all work from here this morning and then have appointments this afternoon.

As we were heading down the hill, we listened to NPR.  I like NPR; I like how they choose to frame the news and the many retractions they have to make.  But one story caught my ear; it was about the fact that many folks have done Zoom meetings exclusively over the last 18 months, and a doctor named a disorder Zoom Dysmorphia.

They interviewed a 19-year-old girl complaining that she liked herself when she looked in the mirror and took selfies, but watching herself on Zoom made her feel bad over time.  The doctor, a dermatologist, stated many people had come to terms that they no longer liked their face since being on Zoom all the time.  For those not on Zoom, there is a handy feature you can turn your camera’s view off, others can see you, but you don’t have to look at yourself.   I don’t think this is a thing, and if it is, let’s put it in the outrage culture bucket.

Speaking of outrage culture, why is outrage culture a thing these days?  If you want to know my opinion, things are too easy.  We no longer have to find clean water, we no longer have to tend our gardens, and we no longer have to fear getting ripped apart by wild animals. Instead, our biggest fear is seeing our saggy or bloated face on a computer screen.  Come on, man; we are better than this.

NPR had some other doozies of stories; I’ll wait for a few days after the account has been shared by those wanting to push the COVID narrative.  I’m betting on a retraction; the story seems false, but let’s see what evolves in the coming days.  I got an email from a friend yesterday; she was worried her school would be closed, she might be arrested, and they might lose their insurance if they did not comply with the governor’s mandates.

Interestingly my friend lives in a red state, so the mandates are not as strong as others. Still, I did share I was not aware of any carrier that would suspend or deny coverage based on the personal choice of allowing a parent to decide if their child may or may not wear a mask.  If I had a child in school, I would not want their ability to breathe impaired; I think it is child abuse to mandate a child wear a face-covering knowing what we know about the virus.

I spoke to a friend that has a cold; I said, did you get tested for COVID? He said, “I’ll never get tested; if I don’t get tested, I’ll never test positive; I don’t want to be a statistic.”  He shared that he was vaccinated, as was his family and most of his friends; he was no longer concerned with transferring the virus.  Just sharing, not saying I agree with him, one person doing life his way. But, I don’t think he is alone; the resistance is building.

I just got a note from a friend who shared the person who answered my company’s phone for his call “needs some training.”  I appreciate the feedback; how does a business owner know how every employee is conducting themselves without quality clients. I, too, share my experience with my owner friends, don’t be shy; we need to hear the good and the bad.  I appreciate any help you can provide.

Our company is not perfect, I think we do better than most, but minor adjustments are the key to growing in a positive direction.  I would love to say we have never made an error, but we do; occasionally, someone will make a mistake, and our approach is once identified, apologize, make it right and move on. Although humans will make mistakes, I have found that people want to do an excellent job if given grace and not hit with a stick for their error.

My wife is in the training room working, I’m on my writing bean, Bay is at the kitchen island, and we are all getting our work done.  We’ve shared a good morning; I got a kiss from my wife; PVHT greeted Bay with a tail wag, which will be our morning.   I’ve got a few calls to return,  again spending time working on the company; it should be a fruitful and productive day.

Well, there you have a peek into my life; I often wonder about yours; I understand you don’t like to share daily, most don’t, but I find this cleansing of my mind to help organize my thoughts and begin my day.   Going back a few months, a year, or maybe ten is exciting, and seeing where I was living, how I was living, and how different my life is these days vs. even three years ago. I have a written record of the last 20 years of my life, maybe this material will be valuable to a future generation, or perhaps it will be lost with no consequence.  I’ll not care; either way, I’ll be dead, but if a future human or robot is ever charged with curating my work, I’m sorry, I did my best.

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
— Benjamin Franklin