Because it's supposed to...

"I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we're not wise enough to see it." -- Oprah Winfrey

It has recently come to my attention, even more so than usual, that everything in life happens because it's supposed to happen. This includes bad things, good things, funny things, tragic things, miraculous things...what have you. Whether by some domino effect, karmic energy, plain old cause and effect, or because the godesses/gods willed it to be so, everything happens for a reason. We may not see it yet, and it may be decades down the road before we do...but it always holds true. Maybe it's teaching us something about ourselves and allowing us to grow as individuals, helping us understand others, or even just letting life work its natural process. In the end, everything works. It always has, and it always will.

About 1 year and 1 week ago, something horribly crappy happened. On my way to work one fine, Spring morning at about 5:30, I was eating my morning veggie corndog and listening to the radio. The next thing I knew, my car was in the middle of the road and there was a car stuck in my passenger door and two other cars with serious damage to my left. A lady came and held my hand through the driver's side window, which had been broken completely, as my airbags deflated. "What the hell just happened," I thought to myself. It was truly a scene out of a nightmare. There were pieces of cars all over the road and my passenger side door was caved in at least 2-3 feet. Even though I felt fine (other than being in total shock), I had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance because the paramedics thought there was NO WAY I could have been ok internally by how severely totaled my car was. The worst part about the whole thing is that I can not remember the accident at all (maybe that's not such a bad thing). According to witnesses, I fell asleep at the wheel which resulted in a 4 car accident. Needless to say, my lovely VW Beetle was history. But the most important thing was that NO ONE was injured. I, and everyone else involved, was miraculously ok. Everyone was amazed that the only injuries I suffered were a concussion, a couple bruises, and a scratch on my leg.

So how could this horrible accident POSSIBLY have been good for me...what the hell is the reason that anything like that would happen? 1) I totaled my car...this, believe it or not, was a good thing. My car payments were over $415 a month (it was brand new), and if I hadn't have totaled my car completely, I never would have been able to afford moving out of my Mom's house (which was ABSOLUTELY necessary for everyone involved) and living on my own. 2) The cause of my "falling asleep at the wheel" was a medication I was taking. Immediately after my accident, I stopped taking that medication and I have been feeling a million times better/more awake/less irritable throughout the day ever since. It was really a good thing. 3) I'm alive. The accident probably could have killed me, and should have at least caused serious injuries. But I came away unscathed (as did everyone else THANK GOD...I was so much more concerned about everyone else than myself). Why? Because I'm supposed to be here. And for that, I am really grateful.

So even though this isn't the best example (it's not too shabby though), it kinda shows that even the things we think are so shitty at the time usually help us in one way or another in the end. And every day I am seeing this more and more as I continue to live my life and enjoy my time here on this beautiful planet. I've been pretty depressed lately (for like 3 weeks nonstop), but then I remembered how wonderful and special life is...and things are lookin' up finally. Can't wait to keep on truckin'!

Until next time, live each day like your last.
Peace, love, and happiness!

Swine Flu

Everyone knows about this "swine flu" thing, or more scientifically, the H1N1 virus(if you don't know about it, you've been living under a rock and can go to http://www.cnn.com/ to read the latest...or watch the news...or listen to the radio...or just step outside). And like everyone else in the world right now, I have something to say about it: the whole thing is getting ridiculous. I understand it's a new strain that we have never seen before and in theory that's pretty scary because we have no immunity to it or no vaccines or any of that jazzy stuff. BUT, the way individuals (and even entire countries) are handling it borders on extreme paranoia, hysteria, and even cruelty.

The most surprising and devastating (and DISGUSTING) news I have heard so far that has resulted from this new "pandemic" is how Egypt is handling the situation. Egypt, mind you, has not even had ANY confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu strain...I don't even know if they've had any POSSIBLE cases. Yet, the action they are taking in preventing the spread of this flu is absolutely horrible and pig-headed (no pun intented). Egypt plans to slaughter every single one of it's 300,000 pigs...that's ALL of the pigs...in the ENTIRE country. When I read this, I almost lost it. According to the WHO, the disease originally spread from pig to human, but now it's spreading from human to human only. Pigs have NOTHING to do with this anymore other than the fact that the genetic makeup of the virus is mostly porcine (also avian/human in the strain too). So not only are all of those pigs going to die for NO fucking reason (except that humans freak out and panic about stupid shit and then make completely irrational decisions), but now the pig farmers in Egypt will have NOTHING (animal cruelty AND destroying the economy...how clever)!! And don't give me that bullshit about how pigs are just farm animals; not only are they adorable, but they are extremely smart and can learn how to play video games and even have dreams. Iraq has also killed several boars in the name of swine flu. I am sooo amazed by human stupidity sometimes...it makes me absolutely ashamed.

So aside from that nonsense, people are taking this WAAAAYYY too seriously. Folks have stopped going out in public, started wearing masks when they do, and everyone looks at you like a giant human-eating spider when you have a cough. Regular influenza strains, the kinds we get flu shots for and such, have already killed over 10,000 people this year...and people are freaking out about SWINE FLU which has only killed over 100? SERIOUSLY! You are more likely to die from plain-old influenza than H1N1. I work at a hospital and when I got to work after being off for my weekend, I had 5 new updates on this virus...TWO DAYS and I get FIVE new updates on something no one should even be freaking out about!! And if any employees are feeling the slightest bit ill, we are URGED to go home/stay home until symptoms subside...and if that's more than 7 days then we have to start filing paperwork and shit AND we still get penalized for being absent even though they are MAKING us stay home! SOOOO stupid! The way the government and the WHO are talking about H1N1 is just causing mass panic. People have even stopped eating pork (which doesn't bother ME because I'm a vegetarian and I love animals and don't think people should eat pork ANYWAYS...but I digress) because of this stupid scare, even after the WHO has said as long as it is thoroughly cooked it poses NO health risk for "swine flu." So that's completely trashing the pork industry. I mean...this whole thing is just causing one, big, unnecessary mess.

When it starts getting bad and killing thousands or millions of people like the Spanish Flu of 1918 or the Cholera pandemics of the 1800's, then I'll be really concerned. But until then, leave the piggies alone and STOP FREAKIN OUT! This is nature's way of controlling human overpopulation and we just have to go with the flow and stay calm...otherwise we'll get ourselves into a shitload of even MORE trouble!

Until next time, don't get your panties in a bunch!

Peace, love, and happiness!