I have been doing reasonably well cutting back on my news viewing; mostly local with only enough national to start shaking my head, because that’s my cue to turn the channel. Since local news is primarily weather, sprinkled with our news I’ve thought it the safer choice until recently. Cottonwood Heights is a affluent upper-middle class neighborhood where we lived from 1989-1995. Good schools, decent shopping and excellent services available. In fact, although we live downtown these days, we still frequent many of the those businesses to this day. I was shocked last week when on the local news I watched protestors and police get into a scuffle with several arrests. Over the next week, accusations went back and forth, primarily between the police chief and a council-woman. Yesterday, the protests happened again. On one side of the street were the BLM marchers and the other side occupied by an armed group vowing to keep peace. What the hell is going on! How have we gotten here? Is civility truly dead or have we just given up any hope that our elected officials will govern fairly and ethically with their constituents best interests at heart? The frustrating part is if you view one person or viewpoint with a critical eye, you are immediately linked to the opposition and demonized. What if you are not happy with either party? I have been in sales most of my adult life and always appreciated that the goal was to find common ground, solve a problem or create a need for your product or service and ultimately end on a win-win. Today is win or die because I hate you and everything you believe in. I have found it much safer to navigate in as neutral a position as possible. Shake or nod your head as required to keep things semi-calm.

My kids are adults and currently have no children, with no plans to change that any time soon. Because of that fact, my perspective of the current school crisis is based on raising children 15 years ago. I cannot even fathom how a parent or parents navigate the pandemic and keep any level of sanity. I honestly don’t know what my wife and I would do if we faced this challenge. We both worked with a very good income and like many, became dependent on both those incomes for the lifestyle we enjoyed. How do you decide who stays home with the kids? And what if you do send them back to the classroom and in a week they are sent home because someone tested positive. Who, and how often can you take time off without losing your job? And if that is difficult, what about a single parent? Do you have a safety net of family you can rely on? What if any of those scenarios include being furloughed of fired? What happens to the mental health of those stuck at home for any reason? Certainly no quick or easy answers here for sure.

Last week I mentioned I had melanoma and was getting it removed. I have had eight bouts of basal cell, six of which required Moh’s surgery, so I am not unfamiliar with the process but still; hearing “melanoma” was a bit startling. Fortunately, it was the variety that grows out rather than deep which is the most deadly form. My point here is two-fold; first, regardless of your skin type, use a good quality sunscreen regularly. Second, no one knows your body better than you so if you see something that looks different or has possibly changed in appearance, go see a dermatologist.