Week 9: fiction and fact: speculative piece/2

Hypochondriac

One of the ongoing stories that run in my family is that in fear of going bold in his old age my father shaved his head when he was a young men in a way to prevent the inevitable. This is just a small example of this trait that seems to be widespread in my family to always be prepared for the worst. It manifested itself in many varied ways but the one I remember most vividly is being a devoted hypochondriac.

My grandmother was one, always gravely sick with different ailments; she made it to the respectable age of ninety years old. My father, I remember clearly, always pondering his coming death with every health issue that came up. He lived to be ninety three in a fairly good physical state and a completely sound mind till the day he died.

So maybe this is an effective tactic, like whistling in the dark or painting your entrance door and windows in blue against evil eye. It is my birthday this week, and I am thinking that just because I made it all the way here there are no guarantees for a smooth sail in the coming years. This is as good a time as any to start adopting some tactics that seemed to work just fine for other family members.

While my physician recommends certain physical activities and a diet change I am thinking why bother, my father did not walk a day in his life and health food was rather far from his frame of reference. Sitting in his room worrying about his coming demise and getting upset with certain political issues worked fine for him, why not for me.

Many years ago when the kids were still young we planned a long trip to Canada. We studied the maps, looked at pictures, and made detailed schedules of what to see and where to stop. Knowing we need to be well prepared we devised detailed tactics how to entertain the kids on the long and boring, to them, periods on the road.  In the end, we were exhausted from all the planning, even before we took the actual trip and felt we knew the area so well there was no need to actually be troubled with the trip itself. The kids were just as happy to play in the back yard

In this electronic new world this hold even truer. There is no reason to physically move when the world can come to me. It is possible to see with complete clarity through areal maps almost every corner of the globe down to the smallest detail. I can communicate with all my relatives and friends, even virtual, imaginary, and lost ones, over the social network. I can converse with people while actually watching them on the computer screen. I can do my shopping online using every store on the face of the earth that has a secure store front. I can choose the movie I like to watch and get it to come to my door, heck I can stream it to my TV.  

So sitting in my room and contemplating the nearing end seems like a justifiable course of action. Actually in a bizarre way based on my family history even an effective way to insure long and unhappy life.