Letting The Mind Off The Leash …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Humour, Personal, Random, Social commentary

I decided just to let my mind off the leash to ramble wherever it wishes this afternoon …

mind-bounce                          mind-2

Until today, we did not live on lakefront property …20190618_151141.jpgIt has rained almost constantly since Friday night, and this is the result.  This used to just be grass, but now I’m wishing I hadn’t given away my fishing rod ‘n reel several years ago!  For a time, the flowers were enjoying the rain, but now I hear their wee voices saying, “Enough already!!!”  Anybody have a small boat we can borrow, just in case?

I remember as a small child overhearing somebody say to my mother, “We lost our mom today”, and I remember wondering why they weren’t out looking for her if she was lost.  Why is it that some people find it so hard to say, “he died”?  It isn’t a difficult word … four letters, one syllable … died.  But instead people say someone “passed” … huh?  No, they didn’t pass … they died.  Or worse yet, is when they say the person “went home”.  No!  She died.  Period.  Call a spade a spade, because finding cutesy little ways of saying ‘he died’ isn’t going to bring him back to life, and it’s confusing as hell to children and those adults like myself who take words quite literally.

Having recently hit the big 6-8, a few friends have told me that 68 is “the new 40”, and one even told me that 80 is the new 40.  I don’t believe them, of course, for I know what being 68 feels like, and I can still remember what being 40 felt like … and believe me, 68 ain’t no 40.  But it made me start thinking … what is the average life expectancy in the U.S. now, and how does it compare to other nations?  It’s plenty old … 78 … but it doesn’t rank in the top ten, and doesn’t even make the top 50!  Surprised?

The U.S. ranks 53rd in the list of life expectancies, at 78.7 years, falling behind the Nordic countries (no surprise there) and almost every country in Europe and the UK.  We also rank lower than much of Asia, such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea.  We even have a lower life expectancy than Puerto Rico. Why?  According to the British Journal of Medicine (BMJ), the answer is summed up in one word:  despair.

According to the report …

“In 1960, Americans had the highest life expectancy, 2.4 years higher than the average for countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But the US started losing ground in the 1980s. US life expectancy fell below the OECD average in 1998, plateaued in 2012, and is now 1.5 years lower than the OECD average.

We are seeing an alarming increase in deaths from substance abuse and despair.”

If the substance abuse and despair were bad before, can you imagine what they will be like by the end of 2020?

And since after that, you need a laugh or two … heeeeere’s Jimmy!!!

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24 thoughts on “Letting The Mind Off The Leash …”

  1. Thanks for sharing!.. when the creatures start lining up two by two on your street, you might wish to consider closing out your bank accounts… 🙂

    “When one suddenly finds oneself in a swamp up to one’s armpits in alligators, it is difficult to remember the objective was to drain the swamp”..

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    • Heh heh … good idea! Actually, believe it or not, there is a storm drain under that ‘lake’, but the rain had overwhelmed it for a few hours. That quote … so perfect, yes? Prophetic, one might even say! 😊

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  2. I think that my brain is on a pogo stick these days! Kimmel is great! That last clip so telling about Trump (he hates people coughing, interrupting him?). Good job, that our Queen was not poorly when he visited UK. He would think that was a personal afront too! What a tosser! (Sorry to be crude, but he is a waste of space).

    Liked by 2 people

    • My brain bounces most days now, but some days I can corral it long enough to write something sensible, other days … not a chance! Yes, that was telling … I learned a new word from you! “Tosser” … I’m keeping that one … probably get a chance to use it before the day is out! Thanks! 🙃

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  3. Your cartoons talk about minds, but they show brains. Sure, the mind seems to reside in the brain, but it resides everywhere in your body. The brain is just the focal point. Without a mind, your brain might as well not be alive.
    I’m just being picky… I cannot decide exactly what I want to say, so I’m stalling. But nothing yet…

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    • I’ve always viewed it a bit differently. I see my mind as being somewhere in my head, and it is constantly at war with my body … the two do not like each other at all! My mind would happily shed the body and go on its own, were that possible.
      You could have asked me to send you some of the rain that created the lake in the back yard 😉

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  5. Jill, best wishes on the withstanding the flood. Our low standung in life expectancy is one reason of many our country ranks in the high 30s in health outcomes. We spend more in healthcare than any other country, but have little too show for it.

    As for 68 years, live many more and live them well. Keith

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    • Thanks, Keith … the lake disappeared after it stopped raining and the water was able to go down the storm drain. However, the Ohio River has had flood watches all week, but we are 20 miles north of it, so no danger here.

      I think that the reality is we waste more on health care … those who can afford it have unnecessary tests, treatments, and are prescribed unnecessary medications, while those who really need basic medical treatment often cannot afford it. Plus, the astronomical cost of drugs … I have to purchase my insulin from Canada, for there is no way I could possibly afford to buy it in the U.S.

      Thanks Keith … I don’t know how many more I can stand at this rate of stress! 😉

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  7. I worked for a funeral home in my younger days. It was common for atendees at a wake to make the comment, “Doesn’t she/he look good?” The urge to say, “REALLY? Looks good? She/he is DEAD!”. Luckily i remained speechless, just smiled & walked away.

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    • I hear you! I remember relatives coming back from viewing a body at the funeral home and talking about how wonderful the dead person looked … somehow, I find it rather creepy putting makeup on dead bodies just to make them appear like they did in life, appear to be only sleeping. You are stronger than me, for I would likely have been fired about my second day there!

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  8. Thanks for the Kimmel share – I could actually listen to those interview clips over and over. They make me laugh and laugh, although I am sure at some point I will start crying. Anyway, feel free to send some of that rain our way…we really need it!

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    • I’m with you … I love Kimmel, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert … and there is one other whose name isn’t coming to me at the moment. I wish, my friend, that I could send some of it your way! Another friend lives in Alberta … High Level … and was evacuated for two weeks due to wildfires, and now he says they are on 4-hour notice for a potential second evacuation. While we have a constant flash flood watch!

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    • Well, I began making out the invitations, but the lake … disappeared! Into thin air … or, rather, down the storm drain that is somewhere under all that water.

      I’m sure you’re right, for he would have liked Barr’s “summary” much better than the actual Mueller report. PLUS … the Mueller report had some rather big words in it that I’m sure he couldn’t have understood. Heck, he can’t even read our Constitution which is only about the length of 8-10 of my blog posts in total! I don’t think he was able to read the Dr. Seuss book I sent him a couple of years ago, for I never got a ‘thank you’ note.

      Cwtch

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