Arrogant modesty

Just a quick recap of a few things this morning, I am going to take a few days off from the computer because my shoulder has a knot the size of Moby Dick’s heart and it’s causing me real physical pain to use a keyboard for more than a few minutes at a time.

First, I have continued my “high-fiber/low sodium” diet and am now down to 197lbs. Yay!

However, I also had a few days this week where I was thinking “why am I eating healthy in an apocalypse” and decided to go off the diet. Making excuses for myself: the big hassle in my particular version of eating healthy is my food log. It’s a pain to compile ingredients, weigh things, look everything up online and then input that into my database. Imagine if I eat some of my now world famous beans: I have to list each of the ingredients and all of their micronutrients (or at least the ones I care about) and then compile that into a recipe card with the total calorie count. It’s a pain in the ass and I get why people wanted “deal-o-meal” and why programs like Weight Watchers are so popular. Also, I’m sorry for all the times I made fun of people on those programs, I literally had no idea what I was talking about. I was just an asshole.

Controlling your diet isn’t easy. I suppose you could just limit yourself to certain foods – eat the same thing every day, for example – but I don’t know if I have that in me. Maybe I should try it? I really love food, though. I made gyoza from scratch (including the dough) last night and they were delicious. However they were also a break from low sodium, low cholesterol, low sat fat, and they have no fiber.

Whatever, complaining done. I’ll think about what I’m going to do on my dog-walk.

Second, I want to reach out to any of my readers who work in health care (or really any of the necessary industries) and say first and foremost, thank you. But also, I would like to extend an offer for you to post your story on here – what it’s like working in the hospital (or even at a warehouse) during these unprecedented times. I would like to reach as many people as possible with information about this virus and the toll it is taking on people on the front lines, what they are seeing, or literally anything they want to talk about. I think your story is far more important than me babbling on about Moby Dick and Emerson. You can reach me at 7amkickoff at gmail.

Finally, I want to leave you all with this Wenger Quote. Always a quick witted and somewhat acid-tongued subject, Wenger was pressed on his supposed aristocratic airs and he basically responded with “look buddy, I used to shovel manure when I was a kid”. But the interviewer persisted saying:

Aristocracy can be a state of mind; it’s not necessarily inherited.

I don’t deny what others feel, but feel like a kid from Duttlenheim who went running in the fields every day. Aristocrats had their heads cut off in France. I strive to pass on values. Not the right of blood. A civilisation that does not honour its dead or its values is doomed.

Precisely, you’re in England, and you didn’t keep your farmer’s outfit. You’re always impeccable on the bench on game day.

Because I feel responsible for the image that football has, and the image that I want to give of my club. And also, football is a celebration and where I come from, we dressed up on Sundays. I loved arriving in England and seeing the managers wearing suits and ties. As if they were saying, “Listen lads, our goal is to make a celebration out of this moment”. I joined in. I want that fan to wake up in the morning and say, Arsenal are playing today, I’m going to have a good time. That guy starts his day off by thinking that something good is going to happen to him. And to do that, big clubs have to have the ambition to play spectacularly. Of shared happiness. We don’t always succeed.

This notion that Wenger is conceited and snobbish was constantly used by supposed “salt-o-the-earth” guys like Piers Morgan and Sir Alex Ferguson along with nearly every member of the press to bash him and it is hypocrisy of the highest order. Morgan and Ferguson – along with many members of the press – are among the most aristocratic “everymen” in the world and yet their trick is that they feign modesty. In fact, one of the defining traits of English culture seems to be an arrogant modesty: the ability to look down your nose at people who aren’t as modest as you.

I’m sure you can think of countless examples.

Qq

6 comments

  1. Sigh…there will only ever be one Arsene Wenger and we had him for 22 years, many of them good, some of them great, one of them historic. I am so thankful for that.

    In response to your call out for stories, please raise a toast to her and the thousands like her who really need our support:

    Aimee DeLine is feeling broken at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital.
    April 1 at 8:34 AM · Detroit, MI, United States

    Last night at work was by far the worst night I have ever had as a Nurse. People…PLEASE (I’M BEGGING YOU) follow the quarantine instructions!!! Don’t think of yourselves being “STUCK” at home. Instead think of it as being “SAFE” AT HOME!!! It may help change your attitude, to help you tolerate being home.

    Last night in the ER, there were 6 patients that passed away, who won’t be going back home to their love ones. Of those 6 patients, 3 of them were mine…2 of the 3, I had just gone into their rooms, took vitals, they were good, nothing about their vital signs gave me the impression that they were about to crash.

    One patient had even thrown their shoe 👞at the closed glass door to get our attention. This person wanted to make sure the oxygen mask was on right & to let us know they had dropped the call light on the floor. I picked up the call light, gave it back & reassessed their vitals, they denied having any pain, were comfortable & just waiting for a bed assignment.

    Less than 30 minutes later, the monitor started alarming, I along with another RN and the RRT (Respiratory Therapist) ran into the room…the doc arrived a few seconds later…this patient had coded & there was nothing we could do to bring this person back to life.

    I’m still having a difficult time wrapping my head around the fact that my patient was TALKING to me and LESS THAN 30 minutes later this patient was DEAD!!!

    As the doc was pronouncing the time of death, we had to quickly run into another room, because my co-worker’s patient suddenly took a turn for the worse as well. Fortunately, we were able to stabilize that patient…but for how long?

    As quickly as these patients are taking a turn for the worst, it’s not giving us much time to save them. We are treating ALL PATIENTS (here in Detroit) as positive for the Coronavirus/COVID-19.

    The ER is overcrowded with patients…last night I was in the ICU section of the ER with 2 other nurses. Each of us had anywhere from 6 – 9 patients at a time…with most of them on ventilators. As soon as one patient either got admitted & went upstairs or expired, EVS was in there cleaning and within 15 minutes a new patient would come rolling in, sicker than the patient before them.

    Last night, nearly broke me…I struggled internally to compartmentalize the fact that I LOST 3 PATIENTS WITHIN THE FIRST 8 HOURS OF MY 12 HOUR SHIFT!!!

    My heart aches 💔 for my patients and their families. More so, since no visitors are allowed, & their family members are calling to check up on them & were telling them how their treatments are going, their vital are stable, that their love ones are doing okay, & were just waiting for a bed assignment. Only to call them back a couple hours later (or less) and tell them that their family member has died. The worst part is not being able to give them a reason as to what happened, and why so quickly!

    So…if you’re still reading my long post…PLEASE TAKE THIS QUARANTINE SERIOUSLY!!! On the #frontlines I cannot stress enough how bad it has gotten & it’s only gonna get worse before it gets better.

    I work the next 2 nights in Detroit at DMC-Sinai Grace and I am struggling mentally to pull it together. I know I need to put my big girl panties on, pull ’em up & suck it up…however it’s not as easy this time.

    #Coronavirus #STAYHOME #SAFEATHOME #Frontlinesofthisviruswar

    1. Damn.. that’s pretty close to what I’m hearing is happening. The illness takes people suddenly.

      1. Meanwhile, the definition of the word obscenity from the NYT:

        “Trump tweeted on March 29, as Americans died, that “President Trump is a ratings hit.” His daily Covid-19 reality TV show, which he called his “coronavirus updates,” had “an astounding number” of viewers, “more akin to the viewership for a popular prime-time sitcom.”

        1. I stopped blaming Trump for being Trump.
          I blame his voters and supporters.
          If you elect a morally bankrupt malignant narcissist to perform a job he’s the least capable performing, then these are the results.
          I kinda understand Republicans approving his job performance but 20% of democrats apparently think he’s doing a good job too.
          I suppose these are the same people who go on cruises in the midst of the worldwide pandemic.

          1. Can’t disagree. A few people have tried to explain it to me since 2016 but I still don’t understand the undying support from that core voter block and most of the Republican party and I probably never will.

            For us up here, Justin Trudeau is hardly nature’s gift to Leadership but I’d take his basic decency over the alternative all day. every day.

          2. I think it is case of damn if you do and damn if you don’t. Many vote for Trump because their livelihoods were on the line.

            Telling people “Your jobs ain’t coming back” is like saying “Ok go die Boomer you are irrelevant in the modern era”.

            Trump is the political terrorists option. The tragedy is that this apathy is exactly what terrorist organizations love.

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