Joshua Reynolds: Recovery from Sickness, an Allegory
On the eve of International Women’s Day, I present you, ladies and gentlemen, a cautionary tale of how to get, and stay, sick.
Look at yourself. Look at your life. Look at the people who surround you. Look at the food that you eat, the drinks that you drink, the smoke that you smoke, the air that you breathe. Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? How much of it can you have? How much is too much? You’d be surprised by how subtle the difference can be and how sick it can make you.
I was sick for so long. Longer than it would even appear. And I am not healthy to this day (I still have a chill in my feet as I write this), but I get closer and closer to the picture of perfect health as I can with each passing day. I may never reach it, but I can always strive.
What I said and what I did when I was sick might have been because I was sick. Does that sound familiar to you? Think of the malice and greed and discontent that you see in the world and the Internet. Is it maybe just because you’re reading or hearing the words or seeing the actions of a sick person? They may not even know they’re sick. The Internet sure as shit doesn’t know it’s sick, but it is. It needs to get better and maybe it will or maybe there will still be cancerous cells floating around in the system, but the only thing we can do is try. Because, dear reader, you might be surprised to know but, the Internet is us. It is our collective unconscious made form into an interconnected network of digital synapses. We are in each others’ brains every day. And that can be exhausting. I bet you’re exhausted just reading this.
The trick is to know the space between wellness and sickness. How close are you to the one over the latter? Do not fear either because you might not even feel particularly sick if you are. And if you do, I sincerely wish you the speediest and fastest and completest return to wellness. And, please, if you see a sick person say something sick on the internet, feel free to say something about it but, for the love of God, be kind.
The Punnery 