OODLs (Observations on Daily Life)

I've often wondered how people in countries besieged by war or terrorism are able to live seemingly normal lives. They go to work, send their children to school, take the bus, go grocery shopping...just like we do. After this week, I think I finally understand. Look, I'm not going to go into a long lament about these "unprecedented times" or "weathering the current situation" or "navigating these rough waters." We've all heard enough of that to last a while. And that's my point. I realized yesterday that, for the most part, I've adapted to this new normal. My Facebook and Twitter feeds indicate many others have, too. We're starting to talk about things other than community spread and lockdowns. People are sharing pictures of their gardens and flowers and sunrises and sunsets. I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared, or that as a nation - hell, as a PLANET - we aren't all scared.  I'm also not

I hope I haven't caused mass hysteria. I hope I haven't sent dozens of people scrambling to their nearest bookstore to purchase books and avoid certain death. Okay, that second one isn't entirely true. If you own a bookstore and notice a spike in sales, you're welcome. Seriously, though, I do  hope you read the headline for this article and clicked on it to find out what on earth I was writing about. (I'll know how many of you did when I check my view count.) With that little headline up there, I intended to spark enough interest to get people to open the article and read it. Why? Because I want to inform. I want to entertain. I want the ego boost I get when I see a high view count for an article. The media wants the same things I do. Ever since the invention of the newspaper, headlines have been written to spark interest. The more sensational the headline, the more likely people were to buy the paper. This meant the paper made money,