Between the summer heat and the constant drama coming from D.C. and elsewhere, it's hard to maintain a sunny demeanor ... not that I always have one.
No, neither Obamacare nor Trumpcare is the best idea for health care. The best solution would be to eliminate or fix the parts of the Affordable Care Act (which polls show is very popular) that aren't working rather than to scrap everything and risk the health of Americans. But, you know, that would require working together, and that's just silly.
No, Junior's emails aren't the final nail in the collusion coffin, nor are they free of stink, so both sides should just calm down and let Robert Mueller do his job. The truth will eventually come out, and likely sooner than someone's tax returns.
To keep our minds off such crazy things over which we have little to no control, what say we focus on the weird, the sweet and the good for a few minutes?
• Mike Tingley of Grand Blanc Township in Michigan decided to use a smoke bomb to rid himself of a nest of bees in his unattached garage (don't try this at home, kids). No word on if the bees survived, but the garage sure didn't, especially after fireworks stored in the garage started going off. Firefighters from three townships arrived to battle the blaze while the unintended fireworks show was in progress. Tingley said, "We really weren't going to celebrate the Fourth of July so much." Luckily his home wasn't damaged.
OK, so how many times do we have to have this happen before we remember that it's cheaper to call an exterminator than to rebuild a garage? I know, stupid question, because fireworks are fun. Mom wasn't kidding when she said you could put your eye out ... or burn down the house.
• Elsewhere in Michigan, in Dearborn, a 5-year-old boy named Adam Houssami gave a free cup of Kool-Aid from his front-yard stand on a hot day to a letter carrier who had no money with him. The next week, a note and $20 showed up in the mailbox, thanking Adam and telling him that good things happen to people who do good. Adam's mother Krista told Detroit news station WXYZ, "It makes me feel really good to know that there are still people in the world that care. I think that shows no matter what you should help people. That small gesture was something really big."
And when you do good with no expectation of reward, it's what makes some of us have hope in humanity again.
• Sunday was National Ice Cream Day, and some people weren't feeling the love at McDonald's, since the phone app that would get them a free cone at the restaurant wasn't working. A few jokesters opined that it gave the restaurant a chance to get the soft-serve machines, notoriously inconsistent, up and running.
Which is why I just bought the ice cream I wanted at the store Sunday. (Yarnell's Homemade Chocolate, yum!) And I didn't have to stick yet another app on my phone. I need space for better things, like funny pictures to text to my mom.
• Luckily for me, I'm not among the 7 percent of Americans (about 16.4 million) who were found by a recent poll to believe that chocolate milk (or ice cream) comes from brown cows. Those of us who grew up in the country know that dairy cows come in many colors, but the colors have nothing to do with flavored milk. Of course, for people who've never considered the agricultural supply chain beyond the grocery store, there'd be a bit of disconnect. Not everyone can have a best friend growing up whose family raised dairy cattle, or have a cat with Holstein spots; I was lucky to have both.
Now if Belted Galloways (think Oreo cookies) were dairy instead of beef cattle, I might believe cookies-and-cream ice cream came from them. Of course, there is a Dutch Belted dairy breed ...
Unfortunately, all the good/weird/sweet news in the world won't solve our problems, especially since so many people seem to be waiting to be offended, which is just a sad way to live.
So here's an idea. For 30 minutes, shove away what offends you and try to think only of things that make you happy, like the beauty of a rose, or the scent of a freshly changed baby, or the grease and dirt under your fingernails when you're working on a car. Let yourself laugh at absurdity. Let that feeling stay with you as long as possible.
Then, with your attitude adjusted and blood pressure down, you might find that what bothered you isn't that big of a deal. Or if it is, that time you spent calming down might have kept you from saying or doing something you'd regret. Like, I don't know, using a smoke bomb to get rid of bees.
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Assistant Editor Brenda Looper is editor of the Voices page. Read her blog at blooper0223.wordpress.com. Email her at [email protected].
Editorial on 07/19/2017