Is There A Cure For Loneliness?

The title of this story came from an AARP publication. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was founded in 1958, and as of a year ago had over 40 million members. The organization publishes The Magazine (and a newspaper). There are always interviews with well-known people, like 82 years young actor Anthony Hopkins, which appeared in the December/January publication. The interview ended with, “My life is an extraordinary series of mistakes. But if I hadn’t made decisions that seemed bad at that time, who knows where I would be? I guess we are guided by some inner force”.

The magazine also has many interesting articles, such as, “Is There a Medical Cure for Loneliness?” What got my interest on this subject is the corona virus pandemic. The article starts with the sentence, “We know that older Americans are at greater risk for social isolation, which can lead to physical illness, depression and even dementia.” No wonder the majority of those who died from COVID-19 belonged to this group. Turns out that “scientists now say there are medical causes and remedies for the painful condition that affects more of us each year.” 

There is an expression; “The surgery was successful, but the patient died.” I question if people can be socially isolated for a long period of time (and not only those of advanced age) – this goes against the nature of what human beings are. In the March 19, 2020 SF Chronicle, there was an article titled, “Remain at home amid outbreak or enjoy a walk among others?” On that day, since Max did not go to his dog-sitter, we went for a walk around Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. There were quite a few people of different ages, walking or jogging while maintaining a reasonable distance.

On Friday, while driving with Max through the Park, we saw a lot of people congregate in front of the Conservatory of Flowers, parents with children riding bicycles and young people jogging. After all, it was a warm spring evening.

P.S. The images are from my encounters with those in Golden Gate Park whom, to paraphrase Anthony Hopkins, preferred to make mistakes but keep enjoying their lives. Among them of course was Max, who has no idea of what is going on and just enjoys the walk with his “parents”. Since this story is longer than usual, I decided to add one bonus, totally five images. I hope you’ll like all of them.

P.P.S. My daughter Tamar, who edits my writings, made the following comments (below) which I would like to share with you as well. If you choose to get some fresh air and get exposed to the Sun, follow her recommendations.

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Mucho Trabajo Poco Dinero

We live in a neighborhood of San Francisco called Monterey Heights. It was built in 1928-29 and has about four hundred, mostly large homes. From time to time, some of them go on the market. Since the original buildings are old, they need to be updated, which sometimes involves stripping it down to the studs. Lately, when I’ve walked in the neighborhood with our dog Max, I saw quite a few remodeling projects going on. Passing by, I was not surprised to hear that the construction workers were speaking in Spanish, the language that I’ve tried to learn over the years; particularly before traveling to Spanish speaking countries like Mexico and recently to Spain. But I never progressed very far, probably because in every country we visited, people spoke in English. Nevertheless, I remembered a few phrases. While walking by one of the construction projects, I greeted the foreman, ”Buenos dias, mucho trabajo.” To which he responded, “Mucho trabajo, paco dinero.” A lot of work, but little pay.” But then he added in English, “Thanks God, there is work.” According to linkedin.com, there are 2000+ Spanish jobs in San Francisco. About 10% of the Spanish speakers, close to 90,000 people reside in San Francisco. It is one of 112 languages spoken in the Bay Area.

P.S. I do not know where the four people I encountered came from, but all of them spoke Spanish and English.

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Why It Is Good To Drink More Water

When I googled “How much water do we need to drink?” I found quite a few articles, which stated that there is an 8X8 rule, which translates to eight 8 ounces glasses, which equals about 2 liters, or half a gallon; all intended to maintain good health. As it relates to our current concern over the Corona Virus,  there might be at least a few more reasons why we should use and drink more water.

I do not want to diminish the potential threat of the epidemic, which, it seems, can be eliminated or at least reduced by such small measures like washing hands and drinking water, but those simple steps seem to be logical. Meanwhile, through my research, I learned there are other bigger common threats to our lives, which are not mentioned in the media, and which can also be reduced by simple measures like drinking water. When I googled “How many people died from the flu”, I found the numbers were staggering. And then when I checked “how many people died from car accidents”, the number blew my mind. You might have heard the advice to drink more water when you get common flu, but what do car accidents have to do with that? I know from personal experience that if I am tired while driving, I drink water from my reusable bottle, which is always in my car, and it helps wake me up a little, until I can safely stop. 

We are exposed to a lot of misinformation and negative publicity. Nevertheless, I am sure something good is going to happen, which will save more lives in the future. Since more money is poured into research for the cure, many countries will come with up unconventional solutions through their joint efforts, which will help not only deal with COVID-19, but with other medical issues as well.

P.S. Up to 60% of human bodies are made up of water, we are surrounded by it, and I like to photograph water in its different manifestations, like these four images you see now. You can find more images of the blue water on my website mannykagan.smugmug.com.

  

The Day of Eighth of March

We didn’t have Valentine’s Day when I grew up in Riga, Latvia; however, we celebrated Women’s Day, which was commonly called “The Day of Eighth of March”. Women were honored with flowers and candies, and men would get drunk to honor the women in their lives. The holiday, which is known as International Women’s Day is celebrated as a focal point in the movement for women’s rights. The event started in New York in 1909, but in 1910, at the International Socialist Women’s Conference, German revolutionary Clara Zetkin proposed that the 8^th of March be honored as a day annually in memory of working women.

The book she gave me was written by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton titled “The Book of Gutsy Women”. It shares stories of about 120 remarkable women from all over the world. After Hillary Clinton ran for the President of the United States in 2016, she paved the road and in 2019 there were six women who followed her footsteps. There are many remarkable women in the world besides those who were mentioned in “Gutsy Women”. Thirty-four years young Finland’s new female prime minister, Sana Marin, leads a coalition government made up of five parties, all of them led by women. Four of those women are under 35. We do not have to travel too far to find gutsy women. In July 2018 London Breed, became the first black female Mayor of San Francisco. But I would like to go even closer. Since my birth seventy-three years ago, I have been surrounded by gutsy women. After giving birth to three children, my mom went back to school while still working as a teacher. When I met my wife Elfa fifty-two years ago, I also met her mother, another gutsy woman, who survived two World Wars, starvation, losing her infant son to hunger during the war, and taking care of my wife as a single parent (her husband died when Elfa was 10). And of course there is my wife, who not only was gutsy to marry me when we were both twenty, but as a life partner, we’ve traveled together through a challenging life, overcoming two emigrations and for over thirty-five years running a mortgage company together. And of course both of my daughters, Alona and Tamar, who are gutsy women in their own way.

March 8^th is the date of the celebration. I am sure you know at least one woman (does not have to be gutsy, though many of them are) who deserves your special attention.

P.S. Flowers are always appreciated, and this is why I am sharing these four beautiful images with you. To get them, I went to Golden Gate Park, where they were planted in front of the Flower Pavilion.

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