Bliss?  Really?

There is an old saying we’ve all heard.  Mom said it more than once and my school teachers were wont to repeat it when one of us youngsters argued against their efforts to fill our little pea-brains with knowledge.

“Ignorance is bliss.”

I think some people took that as a recommendation rather than a warning.

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Back on March 16 of this year I posted a simple account of our first Christmas spent on Sweetwater (http://www.adifferentdrummer.net/index.php/2021/03/16/sweetwater-days-christmas-at-sweetwater/).  I told, with joy, how our eldest son, Scotty, his wife, Erin, and their two children, Pfiefer and Payden, made the trip to the cabin/camp in the woods to spend part of the day with us.

Please keep in mind that Payden was/is still battling leukemia but his doctor told Scotty and Erin that his immune system was on a slight upswing because of where he was between treatments, though still well below normal.  However, the doctor said, if they were meticulous about wearing masks when outdoors and being careful not to let him incur the smallest injury, he should be OK.

When I say, “smallest injury,” keep in mind, in the past he has had to be checked into the hospital due to a scratch he got walking in the backyard of his house, because the scratch got dangerously infected.  We’re talking, life-threatening infection from scratches that you and I would barely notice.  There have been multiple other similar occasions caused by what would normally be minor injuries.  Leukemia and the weakened immune system due to the necessary treatments, are NOT to be taken lightly.

We didn’t.

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After they left, Annie and I stayed for a while, wandering around the property, did some more work, and went home.

So I wrote up an account of what we had done, and pieced together a video to accompany it.  I then posted it all to my blog.  Because of the way the host-site has things set up now I can no longer load videos directly to my blog, along with the text.  Rather, I have to upload the video to YouTube.com first, onto my channel on that site, and then link it to my blog post.  The upside of that is that I can link larger videos to my posts than I could attach before the change, and it still shows up on the same page as my post.

If I didn’t explain all that well enough, don’t worry about it; just remember that some people run across my videos on YouTube.com without ever seeing or reading my blog.  My mistake was not taking that into account.

That was due to my ignorance, but it really shouldn’t have been a problem, should it?

It shouldn’t, but other people and their ignorance made it bothersome.

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Not long ago I was viewing some of my videos on YouTube (Go to https://www.YouTube.com/channel/UCAN-dud96mE8ttPiANlbmsg/videos if you want to check out my channel.) and noticed that, “Sweetwater Christmas 2020” had gotten quite a few views and comments, significantly more than any of the other videos on my channel.  So I read the comments on that one.

I kinda wish I hadn’t. 

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I had accompanied the video with what I felt was a sensible introduction.  It was short and to the point, and I thought it did a good job setting up the video.

The intro read: “Four months after purchasing Sweetwater, our son, Scotty, his wife, Erin, and their two rugrats, Pfiefer and Payden, joined us for Christmas. We showed them around and shared a campfire lunch and snacks, then unwrapped the presents we brought for the little ones. After they left, Annie and I walked around our forty acre paradise, finding more caves, and catching a glimpse of Bigfoot hiding behind a tree!”

I thought that last little dose of my tongue-in-cheek humor would be met with equal light-hearted understanding, especially after noticing that the beginning of the video shows me pretending to cut down a small cedar tree with my bare hand, from a stump many times too big, and Annie chuckling as I exclaim, “This is not a reenactment; this is the actual cutting of the perfect Christmas tree”

Granted, I just may have added to the confusion about whether I was trying to fool anyone into thinking I intended to show a real, live bigfoot in my video, when I named it, “Sweetwater Christmas 2020 – Bigfoot?”  But I never would have believed that anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would have felt that way because the photo I accompanied the title with showed the actual woody growth on one of our trees, you know, the one that resembles Bigfoot, the very photo that I included in the video.  Heck, that picture would have been right there with the title if someone had done a search that brought it up!

But the bigfoot wasn’t the biggest problem.  Oh, no, it was not!

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Warning: I haven’t changed or corrected the commentors’ spelling, grammar, punctuation, or anything if I could keep from it.  I thought leaving it the way they typed it might help you understand their intended message.

The first comment dealt, not with Bigfoot, but with my grandkids’ masks.  It was from someone identified as Ellen (I won’t include last names).  She jumped in feet-first and guns a-blazing when she commented, “This drives me nuts. You’re outside in the woods. You don’t need masks !”

Wow, Ellen, why do you take it so personally?  It’s almost like somebody just attacked the way you are raising your kids or grandkids. 

Oh, wait; you just did that to us.  Hmmmm.

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Sharon commented next, “They are being safe,” and then told Ellen to shut up.

Thanks for coming to my defense, Sharon.  I hope now you read this and understand how right you were.

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Mountain Chief chimed in with a comment that seems to be taking Sharon to task for her defense of me and mine, “Sharon is reporting to us from the vault in her parent’s basement where she’s been staying safe since she graduated High School in 1967”.

Funny, but not nice, Mr. Chief.

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Aaron followed with a humorous comment that I hesitate to take as a serious insult.  “Probably worried catching covid from bigfoot”.   

I’m hoping Aaron just saw a chance to make a joke and did it.

Funny but, either way, no big deal.

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D.I.M.E. Productions jumped in with the COVID deniers and, after indicating that he was laughing his backside off, “you can’t be serious, if you think those masks stop anything. I suggest you stop being a part of a cult”

Ouch.  Cult?  The only cult I belong to is one that wants to see Payden survive leukemia.  If that’s a cult, I’m proud to count myself a member.

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P Rex shows some (I think) concern for the mental welfare of the kids, when he says, “Watching those kids have to wear those masks is heartbreaking. This is not going to end well.”

When Payden survives leukemia to grow into a healthy, happy adult, I think that would qualify as ending well.

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XpfcWintergreen_2 injected some pure kindness and a friendly tone with, “A wonderful video no matter what anyone expected or thinks. Thanks for sharing the love!”

Donald followed with more of the same, “Great video. Family love. I did expect to see Bigfoot, children smiling, hiking, and memories. I love it.”

Then another friendly viewer, Tom, said, “Was that all growth from the tree ? I don’t watch this type of video of family stuff and just hiking. I’m more interested in cooking in the woods. I give u a thumbs up for this. The video, there was no dragged out detail on how u did what u did. Excellent video and enjoyable. Thank you. Tom”

All I can say is, “Thanks to XpfcWintergreen_2, Donald, and Tom.  Nice, friendly communication like yours is the way civilized people are supposed to communicate. 

Then April comments, “Why masks? Fun nonetheless.”

See, she doesn’t know why everyone was wearing masks (I didn’t clarify that in the video.) but she assumed we had a reason and respected our right to our opinions.

Thanks, April.

Debra was another nice commenter with, “Thank you for sharing. Your video with everyone, May God Bless you in many ways, I love your video please keep Sharing with all of us. God Bless you all.”

Larry said, “Beautiful place!”

John Added, “Now i cant stop laughing”.

Steve commented, “Nothing like a nice low key celebration with the ones you care for the most. A nice sunny day in the woods makes it all that much better. Cheers to the simple life of days gone bye!”

Sounds like Debra, Larry, John, and Steve got it!  They watched the video and understand exactly what I was going for, sharing a pleasant time spent with people I love, and having a laugh or two along the way.

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Then Casper comes along and curses us all with, “You are hurting those children with those (GD) stupid masks! Kids most of all NEED GERMS AND STUFF so their immune systems work, all of us do!”

The funny thing is, overall I agree with Casper.  Kids do need to be exposed to germs “and stuff” to develop their immune systems.  That is IF they HAVE an immune system in the first place, Casper.  Payden doesn’t have a normal immune system, due to his leukemia treatments.  When his immunity is down, a simple thorn scratch could prove quickly fatal.

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Ms. Angel was another nice viewer.  She commented, “BEAUTIFUL TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY CAREFUL LORD BLESS ALL OF YOU S AND WATCH OVER YOU ALWAYS PRAY 😇 L.A CALI 😇💙🇲🇽”

All I want to say to Ms. Angel is, “thank you so much for your kindness.  May God bless you and yours as well.”

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Javon went the other way, but didn’t go so far as to insult me severely, “Thanks for sharing but Why the clickbait? great footage soured by that for no reason.”

While I can profess my innocence of his claim that I used, “Bigfoot?” in the title as clickbait (something misleading which is used solely to entice people to open your video), I can also see how he could have misinterpreted my motive.  Did my questionable use of clickbait sour my use of “great footage?”  I guess if you are a dyed-in-the-wool bigfoot believer and had your heart set on this little country boy posting the definitive proof of the big hairy guy’s existence then it certainly could have.

If that’s the case, I’m sorry…but I’m still confused…a little.

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Then Debra came back on to say, “Don’t let the government control you any longer my friends.”

I’m not sure at all whether she meant that to be positive or negative, given what she said before, so I won’t add anything other than thanks for your comment.

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Chuck spoke up with, “No one can honestly expect your family to be wearing masks in the woods, unless your insane.. Throw them away, and show those smiles.. God Bless America”.

Overall Chuck had a pretty nice way of insinuating that we might be crazy. 

Believe me, Chuck, my wife and I only wear our masks when work or other conditions require it, and Payden’s disease is one of those conditions that definitely requires it. 

Am I insane?  I’m pretty sure you are not the only person who thinks I might be.  No argument from me on that point.

Hey, Chuck wants to see my grandkids’ smiles.  What grandparent could get too upset at that?  Thanks, Chuck, and God bless America!”

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Debra came back again, this time to clarify her earlier comments a little bit.  She said, “Yeah! Your on your own property, don’t make yourselves and those precious babies suffer wearing those (d—n) mask any longer when your on your own property, we want to see those beautiful faces”.

Back yet again, she said, “Please keep your babies close to you at all times when your outside, you don’t know if you can trust those Bigfoots from running off with your babies or eating them be safe with your babies ok. God Bless you all.”

See?  With those two comments, Debra made it clear that she disagrees with what she assumed was our reasoning for everyone wearing masks, but she did it in a nice way, and even made a joke about my use of clickbait, uh…Bigfoot.  She did say, “Bigfoots” rather than the singular, “Bigfoot.”  Maybe she knows something I don’t.

May God bless you and yours as well, Debra.  I’ll try to keep those Bigfoots from running off with my grandkids or eating them.

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Phillip took keyboard in hand to tell us, “Limit mask wear to 2 hr.”

See?  He didn’t feel the need to insult us to get his point across; he just stated the facts as he saw them.

Thanks for the help, Phillip. 

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Zantino chimes in to point out that, maybe Debra’s observation was correct.  He said, “Nice video but wanted to know if you noticed , well swinging daughter on vine the Bigfoot right behind you??? He was cloaked . Look behind you and up you will see head then body . You probably knew already . If not glad I could help .”

Thanks, Zantino.  I like your sense of humor.  I went back and looked but couldn’t make out the cloaked bigfoot behind Scotty.  I’ll keep trying every time I watch that video.

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Back to the dark side.

Lynn felt the need to say, “Masks……in the woods?”

John, who couldn’t stop laughing last time he left a comment, was back to say, “Why on Earth r we wearing masks out in the woods. How rediculius is this.”

He came right back on, I guess to emphasize, “Ridiculous”.

He returned immediately to say, “Oh i get it we were being sarcastic in a humorous way. Now thats funny. U gotta forgice me for being kinda slow.”

Then again to say, “Seeety yer humor is showing a bit.”

Thanks, John.  I think you may be starting to figure me out…but I’m just not quite sure.

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The negative Nancys come back when slowhypno says, “Kids with masks? What a bunch of idiots.”

Well, slowhypno, I think kids with masks are a lot better than kids in caskets.

Just sayin’.

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Jarel didn’t like the video…at all.  He said, “What a lame video”.

Sorry you didn’t like my video, Jarel.  I hope I didn’t steal too much of the time you would normally spend watching kittys playing the piano or guys getting kicked in the…you know…or looking for actual real-live sho-nuff bigfoots.

Be free, my friend.  Go back to surfing YouTube…after, that is, you take the time to tell a total stranger that the effort he put into showing how much fun happy, loving people can have on Christmas fell flat on its face.

I’m so sorry I made you watch that.  Oh, wait, I didn’t make you.  Then why did you?

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Rich gets the last word with, “6 people isolated from the world……wearing masks.. whatta shame.. the video?? whatta sham!!!”

OK, I guess he had the next-to-last word, because I have a word or so to add myself.

First, let me commend Rich for his use of “whatta shame,” juxtaposed with “whatta sham”.  I may have to steal that one to use myself sometime in the future.

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When I went back over all the comments, I tried to categorize them into positive and negative, but then I noticed that some contained elements of both, while some were just comments, neither negative or positive, and some where humorous, and one I honestly couldn’t categorize.

It turns out to be an even split between positive and negative comments, with 12 of each.  Four other comments included both positive and negative aspects.  Four others were neither, or were humorous, or I just couldn’t tell.

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I must admit that the negative comments are the ones that got me worked up enough to start writing this post.  Seriously, are there that many people in the world who can’t see beyond the current COVID induced mask-phobia to realize that there are other reasons for wearing a mask?  I mean, granted they were not around every corner but there were people wearing masks long before COVID-19 was first recognized.  Doctors and nurses do it all the time.  In Japan, the SARS scare (Did you know COVID-19 is actually a form of SARS?) of a few years ago started a mass-usage of masks that continues to some extent today.

I guess there really are that many short-sighted people around.

On the other hand, I am encouraged that so many people didn’t feel the need to be negative.  There were 20 out of 32 comments that were overtly positive or simply not negative.

That’s a good thing.

As for the old saying that Mom and my teachers used to say, “Ignorance is bliss?”  Well, assuming the negative commentors were ignorant of my meaning or motivation, their comments and tones didn’t seem very blissful.  Nope, they seemed downright perturbed to me.

It seems ignorance is NOT bliss after all.

Just saying. 

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