January 15, 2024
Today commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. While I’ve known about Dr. King’s important work and iconic speeches for most of my life, I’ve found a certain interest in how Dr. King was connected to the work of Henry David Thoreau. Specifically, Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience inspired leaders like Dr. King in the United States and Mahatma Gandhi, in Africa and India.
In our country today, I often hear those who defend our country’s early views of freedom, which entailed the owning and selling of human beings, or those who defend keeping things the way they are now. It is as if the ideas of change are new to the conversation, but when we study our country’s history, we see that there has always been a side who opposed overly conservative views. Our country is rich in thinkers and writers who opposed inequality and the poor treatment of all citizens. This seems to get lost in our modern conversations.
I did not sleep well last night waking throughout the night at 1:30, 3:30; 4:30 AM. I woke up feeling worse than the day before, but hoped my condition would improve as the day went on. Despite the forecast calling for rain, the morning sky was clear and filled with stars, foreshadowing a sunny day.
By the time the sun reached the morning horizon, I felt exhausted. I hadn’t been sick in a while, and I forgot how hard our bodies work to fight off illness. My wife and I had a brief conversation about how illness, just like the one we were experiencing, used to kill people. I remembered visiting an exhibit on the Spanish Flu at the history museum in Raleigh, and, of course, I can't forget the recent pandemic that claimed the lives of one million people. A big shout out to science for saving countless lives.
In the afternoon, my wife fell asleep on the couch, feeling tired from being sick. I had been writing for a few hours and I felt antsy about being confined to the house. So, I left, driving into Wilson, where I purchased one dog toy, four dog chews, an apple-flavored salt lick for the deer, and two hundred and forty pounds of deer corn. It felt good to be out, but since it was a holiday, I found the city, even if small, too congested for my taste. I drove home, ready to be back in the quiet.
When I arrived home, my wife was awake. We handed out the beef tendon chews I bought for the dogs, which really made their day. While they chewed away, I wrote at my desk and then fell asleep in my office. My wife came and pulled me off of the office floor and guided me to the couch where I slept for two more hours. Being sick is hard work.
When I woke up from my nap, I felt worse. I was thinking the four-mile hike we did yesterday was probably not a good idea. Before, only my sinus cavity was affected, but now I felt the hot stuffiness drop into my throat and chest, sapping what little energy I had left. After a cup of decaffeinated coffee, I made my way outside and took a walk through the pasture in front of the house. I was going to inspect a hole I found there last week to see if there was anything inside of it. Before, when I found the one-foot hole, I thought I saw two eyes looking back at me, probably a mole or possibly a snake. Before I made it to the hole, my wife came out to check on me. I walked back to the house to meet her.
I grabbed a bag of deer corn off the front porch and carried it off into the pine grove, to where the grove intersects with the woodland. There I dumped the bag near a trail camera where I have been tracking a small herd, including three bucks that frequent the area. When I arrived back at the house, I took the dogs out to the backyard to play with them. With the humans sick, the dogs had been shut in the house all day, something I knew I didn’t like. We played a bit it the cold air as the sun went down, having a good time and feeling better for it.
Dinner was light. I took a long hot shower, trying to wash the aches out of my body. After, I made some notes at my desk, strummed the guitar quietly for a few minutes, and then went to bed. It was back to work the next day, and I hoped I would feel better.