My brain is about to explode! I have finally come to the understanding that I am so old I know things other people are just now learning (or not). Like you can cook rice without a rice cooker. And pizza didn’t always come in a box. Simple things that I thought were inherent, like learning to say “Good Morning.”

My particular peeve right now is the politicians and media personalities who are negatively brandishing the fact that you may need another corona shot in a year. Where have they been all their lives? They get a flu shot every year. And if they ever did anything to injure themselves more than hurt feelings, they most likely have had to have the tetanus booster. And they also get a DTaP booster every so often if they are traveling overseas. What is the big deal other than to foment discontent in the public sector to keep politics and media relevant? If you get the shot, you are probably going to have to get a booster, just like the flu. Or tetanus, or whooping cough. Or maybe not! The jury is still out.

And while we are on this topic, how about side effects? One in a million women got a blood clot from the J&J vaccine. The rate with birth control pills in the same age group women is 1 in 3,000. Or the latest concern is a minor heart problem for one in 5 million? I concede that if I, or one of my family were that one, I would be very upset. But I’ve never won a lottery, not even a raffle or Split the Pot, so hitting those odds would be more than karmic. All things being equal, it is a chance I’d take.

The polio vaccine was just out of experimental when they used it during the epidemic of the 1950s. Two were available: the Salk vaccine on a sugar cube and later the Sabin vaccine by injection. Side effects, including death happened, but rarely. And we didn’t have 24/7 T.V. news to negatively tout every side effect. Everyone was so glad to finally see a vaccine we lined up to take it. And for the most part, polio has been eradicated in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world. We can only hope that for COVID-19.

I guess the punch line here is “I’m so old I remember”: You can use a bar of soap to wash your hair with a glug of vinegar in a glass of water for conditioner (brings out the red highlights. Lemon juice for blondes).

And, if you have a cabbage and a knife you can make coleslaw. Not a job I ever liked, but my mom could chop cabbage so fine it was almost smooth, but stayed crunchy and perfect and she made sure I knew how.

I am happy to be able to buy cabbage already chopped, and shampoo is a commodity I definitely appreciate, but I could live if all at once these things disappeared. I guess that is why I get so perturbed when no one thinks for themselves, but is for or against an issue because the Internet, T.V. or Great Aunt Matilda says so. Five minutes of research (on the phone they can’t put down) would give them some insight and information they could use to form an opinion of their own. Heaven forbid!

I don’t mind teaching a kid to sew on a button instead of throwing the garment away, but teaching them to think and do for themselves should be just as easy. I wish it were!