New Year’s Resolutions and a great read
Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote Dr Sanjay Gupta from CNN in April 2020. This is what he said
There is an oft told joke: the best business model is to open a gym called ‘Resolutions’ in January and convert it to a bar in February. For me this year, I think my resolutions are different because I am deeply convicted on why they are necessary. When I look at the world, I question how the collective has been comfortable with abdicating personal responsibility in favor of being fed a narrative, protected from their own decisions and never questioning if it makes sense. Be it COVID, climate change, or the appropriate deference to all things woke, there is “the right answer”, and then there is the other one that could get you cancelled. Perhaps that is too harsh. Perhaps not.
The real problem with resolutions, just as with those issues, is that we want to make sweeping and dramatic metaphoric commitments to things that create “a full gym on January” but make it empty come December. The greatest resolutions are the ones where we ask “by these actions, what are we trying to achieve here.” For me, I need to find balance in my life, which is something I haven’t historically been good at and that journey is one that needs a lot more than commitment in January.
Broadly speaking, we tend to use hyper focus as a defense mechanism to ignore the greater problem, because the greater problem is much harder to address. And if you want to get super weird, let’s draw the parallel to Roe v. Wade, where society pinned the result on a loophole to avoid having the harder discussion, which was women’s equality and that bandaid is about to be ripped off. The real question of COVID is not about public health (that ship sailed long ago), it is really about big federal government vs small local government, and like Roe v. Wade, they too are using a procedural loophole rather than having a discussion. Hopefully the OSHA decision at the SCOTUS puts that to bed. As usual, I digress Here are my 2022 resolutions.
I will not buy goods from Amazon in 2022. If they want to have “climate pledge” arena in Seattle, maybe they could limit home deliveries to once per week. Moreover, AWS was directly responsible (in concert with Apple) for removing Parler from the world. I didn’t use it, but with great power comes great responsibility, and I won’t support deplatforming in any way.
I will not use Google to research anything. Google has 93% of the world’s search. What you Google and I Google yields different results depending where I am. Simply speaking, I don’t trust them anymore and I can’t support a company who said that “testing is not a valid alternative to vaccinations.” I can’t get off gmail or YouTube so I recognize my “punishment” is small, but it’s the best I can do.
I will no longer buy Starbucks coffee. This is a big one. I’ve been a Starbucks a day guy for 20 years (yes, that’s a lot of money). While they aren’t the only retailer that will require their unvaccinated staff to pay for their own testing under the OSHA mandate, I cannot respect that they won’t ban unvaccinated customers from entering their store. They hold all the power over their employees and won’t exercise any over consumers. If the OSHA ruling goes as I expect it to, it will be interesting to see which companies hold on their “convictions” of the importance of vaccination.
Have one day a week without meat. 14.5% of the world’s CO2 emissions come from livestock. I’m never going to drive an electric car. I’m not going to put solar panels on my roof. Those things are expensive and I’m not convinced of the payout or benefit. However, I’m happy to lead by example and take personal responsibility that choosing to make a change is better than a mandated one.
Moderate drinking. Like many others, the last 2 years has seen my alcohol consumption increase tremendously. Sober January is “easy.” It’s a choice with hyper focus. It is moderation and balance I struggle with and so for me, the real challenge will be taking 2 or 3 days a week off while Resolutions, the bar, os open.
Exercise 4 times a week. I would like to see the scale touch 203 lbs this year, which would be 30 lbs down from mid December. In May of 2020, any self respecting politician should have been leading their constituents in a fitness challenge. Obesity is one of the major factors that led to hospitalization and death in COVID and we have had 22 months to get health. Instead, 43% of Americans put on 27 lbs. I intend to lose those, because losing weight IS easy. Eat less, Exercise more. And you can too.
Happy New Year. May it be the best year in the last 3.
DRW
And now, for the really good read.
In response to RFK Jr article about flu vaccines. I do not get an annual flu vaccine. I think the best defense against flu and Covid is stay in good shape and wash hands, wash hands, wash hands. Masks and vaccines apparently do not protect. Wash hands, carry sanitizer, wash hands, carry your own pen, wash hands. I never hear the “news” talk about hand washing. Wash your hands. It is surprising how many people do not wash their hands often.