I am scheduled to have a blood test—to check my magnesium level—in one hour. The results are intended to determine whether I need to return tomorrow to have an IV infusion of magnesium. Snow still covers most of my driveway. My gut continues to punish me for my arrogance of being alive. My street has not been plowed. Road conditions on the route to the lab may be just fine. Or they may be icy. I am trying to decide whether to go or not. Confounding these matters is the fact that mi novia has been suffering for two days from what she believes is a very painful kidney stone. Hers is, by far, the most urgent of the issues. Why must they all arise in conjunction with the recent snowfall of 12 to 16 inches and the resulting warnings to “stay off the roads?”
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The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain.
~ Karl Marx ~
Perhaps Marx was right. But how would he have known?
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Writing does not cure all the ails the world throws at us. Nor does reading. Writing and reading simply wrap newspapers around sharp-edged stones, making easier the distribution of deadly projectiles to intended targets. Writers and readers are equally to blame for broken arms and damaged feathers.
