Reflections: Lockdown

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. We’re in lockdown again, stuck at home. Sucks! No question - the last 18 months (or so) have been nothing short of tumultuous as COVID19 has ravaged the globe. 

I had an insightful conversation with a pharmacist friend, we discussed the significant toll the pandemic has taken on mental health. Mental illness rates have skyrocketed since last March, prescriptions quadrupling.  

But I am grateful to talk about what brings me so much joy, especially in times like this. Read below! 

1. Music. Life without music would be unbearable and unlivable. How miraculous it is that I hit the play button on my phone, and seconds later, sounds of music hit my brain, register in my brain, and please me - no end. Nothing better than sitting back and listening to classic rock. Within milliseconds I am overcome with joy. How miraculous is that? I pinch myself in amazement. 

2. My relationship with G-d. I am not going to pretend that I am religious, just keep a kosher home, stick to dairy-only out.  (Remember when we used to go out for an occasional dinner?). We keep a strictly kosher home, which I am not willing to bend on. Be that as it may – I know who G-d is, what he wants from me, what I want from him, and how to relate to him. Sorry social justice warriors, I still refer to G-d as masculine.  I may be wrong, but whether G-d is male or female doesn’t make a difference to me. 

3. My health. Yup, I am now closer to 60 than I am to 50. Unfortunately, ageing is inevitable, but I am grateful every day for my excellent health, am addicted to nothing, and live a normal life. Yeah, I could lose a few pounds, who couldn’t? I do recognize how lucky I am to be healthy. 

4. Love. I have an abundance. I am so grateful every day for all the love I give, but more importantly, all of the love I get without having to ask. I’ve got an awesome wife with whom I’ve been married for 27 years. We have two great children who are finding their own ways with our counsel. We have given them the foundation to lead productive and happy lives. Despite having emigrated 32 years ago, I am grateful that both my mom and dad, brother, and sister all live within a 10-minute drive from one another. How remarkable is that?

5. Physical fitness. Going hand in hand with health, I love being active. Despite being in isolation for some 18 months, I am lucky to have an at-home gym where I spin with Fern, my faithful teacher of 8 years and AdlerFitness --- we have the technology, I can crank up the music in my house, sing and shout, while I spin with my mic on mute, and rid myself of all my tensions. 

6. Career. They say that you won’t work a day in your life if you love what you do, and although I work some 60 hours a week every week, it often feels as though I don't work at all. How lucky am I to enjoy that? 

7. Nature. “Oh shit,”
   
   I said to myself last Wednesday when I saw in my yard our gorgeous blooming magnolia tree with snow. It's not up to me to figure these things out, why we get snow in the third week of April, or how a magnolia tree blossoms. Both these concepts are above my pay grade. But I couldn't help but admire the beautiful juxtaposition that hit my eyes, gorgeous. 

I could ramble on all day, but that’s not my style. For now, I want to sit back, revel in all that I have with huge gratitude.  

Disclosure:  I am not compensated by AdlerFitness

Happy Birthday Champ, aka The Greatest

Can't say I am or ever was a big fan of boxing, but one thing is for sure, I know the champ.  You see on this day (January 17) in 1942, the champ was born in Louisville, Kentucky.    Beginning training at 12, he would win the light heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Olympics (6 years before I was born).  On March 6, 1964, he announced he no longer would be known as Cassius Clay but as Muhammad Ali. In 1966, he refused to be drafted into the military, citing his religious beliefs and ethical opposition to the war that was raging in Vietnam. He was found guilty of draft evasion so he faced 5 years in prison and was stripped of his boxing titles. He stayed out of prison as he appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971 by which time by all accounts he was past his peak performance as an athlete.   

Many phrases were coined by him, "The greatest", "Rope-a-dope", "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee",  "Fight of the century", "The Thrilla in Manila", "The Rumble in the Jungle". There are many more!

I think though, his most humorous and endearing story was in 1971, when Wilt Chamberlain challenged Ali to a fight, scheduled for July 26. Although the seven-foot-two-inch tall Chamberlain had formidable physical advantages over Ali—weighing 60 pounds more and able to reach 14 inches further—Ali was able to influence Chamberlain into calling off the bout by taunting him with calls of "Timber!" and "The tree will fall". No wonder  - the Ali statement unsettled Wilt the Stilt - the bout was called off.  

And then there was the Rumble in the Jungle.  I was 8 years old at the time, didn't know much about anything, other than Kinshasa was somewhere in Africa.  Ali was supremely confident.  So confident that he told the press, "done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

There is so much more than can be said, but I'll end this by saying the world lost this icon to the ravages of Parkinson's on June 3, 2016.  

Champ - here's to you on what would have been your 79th birthday!