Rest Well

The saddest part of your screaming at me was not the fact that your heart might have some extra levels of stress to deal with tonight. Or the reason why your wife or whoever was walking alongside you left you alone right after your voice started reaching levels of detrimental repercussions for your brain health. The most disturbing element is the anxiety you are bringing to the dinner table this evening. I feel bad for those who know you and repeatedly mentioned the hundred and one reasons why you should stop to reconsider your position in life.    

I am uneasy about what might happen in your dream state. And if I may, I would like to apologize to your ancestors, if I created some disturbance in their plans for you: – I am “kind of” sorry. But, at the same time, my apology comes with the certainty that your forefathers felt ashamed seeing your actions from the wherever corner of the universe they might be guiding you from. Now they know that you completely lost the historical perspective of all significant epidemics we have gone through as the leading species on this planet. 

What an embarrassment that we, as humans, are reaching these levels of disrespect towards each other. 

The women, to whom you were directing your weird energy before I jumped in the quicksand of your screaming distress, are extraordinary human beings. They are brilliant mothers who are concern with the sanity and well-being of their offspring. It is to them that I must apologize for seeing such an attitude aimed at them. You should be ashamed of behaving like that; no wonder the lady you were with left you to your ridiculousness. 

The real sickness out there is not the virus, the real sickness is all the inner monsters we all carry. Triggering our reactions to circumstances that unleash these inner fears is how they are controlling how we treat each other, pushing us to forget the lessons history has taught us. 

It seemed to me and to the peaceful trees around us that you were just repeating news broadcast slogans. That your inner worrying was fundamentally driven by “not having a proper source of information from where to truly speak.” So you choose to scream at me. 

I accept that this is not who you are. I refuse to think you are a puppet of these global circumstances. It is a shame that thousands or millions of humans, including you, decide to disrespect others for not wearing a mask. It is your choice to harmonize with the echoing sound of cities where misinformation is controlled by the media and politicians. These two sources feed on people like you. The purpose of their divisive rhetoric has one goal: popularity.   

Our small, short, and incredibly funny encounter today left me wondering about our children. 

• What are we allowing them to learn from how obedient we are becoming? 
• How is it possible that we choose to argue against each other in front of children who only want to play outdoors? 
• Why are we punishing them for the failure of the institutions we trust? 
• How is it possible that we are taking the carefully filtered information running wild through social media, news reports, and political fanfare platforms so lightly? 
• How is it possible that we are allowing fear to rule how we treat each other? 
• How come we are allowing the power of our choice to be questioned?  
• Aren’t you tired of all the manipulation? 

I might be ignorant like you so loudly called me, but I will never disrespect your points of view. I will at least try to listen to you. I do not know if we will find a middle ground for both our beliefs and truths to be independent and free, but I will surely try. 

We are separating from each other too much. This is a moment in global history when coming together could not be more relevant. It seems that division is winning in every single aspect of social interaction. Can you see how every single driving topic these days is all about separation? Every single drama, show, movie, song that makes it to the populist media forefront deals directly with some form of alienation. 

Worry about your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or any young relatives, worry about the repercussions this will have on the interpretation they have about what a decent human being is. The coming generations will struggle after all these nightmares if we continue strengthening the future with our divisiveness. 

Your screaming doesn’t scare anybody, and it just leaves uncertainty wherever you pass through. Even the ants and the birds know that it is not about whether you are right or I am wrong; we are way beyond that now. 

We are hikers not just in the woods where we meet, but in everything we do in life. We are all heading somewhere. We all know that what we left behind was not working. Please take the time to see what is at stake. Recognize that we are easily manipulated by algorithms continually trying to divide us and that somewhere some unseen hands are benefiting from this. 

I chose not to wear a mask not because I want to disrespect you, but: 

• because in high school, we learned how meaningful is the relationship of our microbiome
• because in college, they taught us that the airborne flu is simply the airborne flu; it comes, and it goes, and it comes back a little different after learning so many other genetic codes   
• because after so many hours of hiking, running, walking, dancing, and swimming, we understand that breathing clean air in a mountain is a crucial part of being healthy 
• because leading global scientists are all saying now that if from the beginning we would have continued going outdoors and replenishing our bodies with healthy clean air, and with the benefits of being outside, we wouldn’t be in this mess 
• because everyone knows (including the people who are being told what to say in the news reports) that movement and a clean diet are more beneficial than any mask 
• because I am sure that tonight, when you go over the Shakespearean event that you created, that something inside you is going to let you know that screaming at each other is not the solution to the global controlled hysteria we are facing  

I hope you can rest tonight; I am signing out of this conversation; I choose to leave it here. I hope that tomorrow when you see someone else without a mask that at least you are decent enough to engage these fundamental rights fighters differently.