I’ve got to confess that I am a fan of Bill Maher.
I disagree with a lot of the comic/TV host’s views on the world, but for some reason, I’ve been a fan of his for many years.
When I was in high school, I used to enjoy staying up late to watch his show, Politically Incorrect.
He always had a diverse guest list that debated current issues from all points of view.
I rarely sided with Maher’s views on things, but I appreciated that he had a format where conservatives, liberals, libertarians and moderates could bounce ideas back and forth.
Although I do not have HBO, I was pleased to see a couple of years ago that Maher was back on the air, with a similar format from the 90s show that had long been canceled.
Facebook, being what it is, figured out that I enjoyed his short segments and consistently includes them on my feed.
Maher is off-based on a lot of things, in my opinion, and at times he is crude, but when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, he has a lot of words of wisdom when it comes to how individuals are handling the virus.
Maher regularly speaks out against hunkering down in our basements, waiting for the virus to pass.
He encourages, often in a humorous manner, people to get out and enjoy the fresh air.
He also encourages the intake of vitamin D and the boosting of the immune system as a way to combat the virus, as opposed to shutting down until a vaccine may or may not come along.
Sound familiar?
If you read The E-T with any regularity, you know that Indianola’s own Dr. L. Ray Matthews has been preaching this for years, long before COVID-19.
We have not gotten very many breaks since March, but this past weekend, Callie and I took Ellie and Sarah to our old stomping grounds in Tuscaloosa.
We made a lot of great friends when we lived in Alabama, but there was one family from Germany we were very fond of.
It just so happened that they are set to leave to return to Europe permanently this coming week.
We took a long weekend and went to T-Town for one last visit.
This past Saturday, we took all of the kids to a place called Shark Tooth Creek, which is several miles outside of an already rural Aliceville, Alabama.
This guided tour took us to a creek where apparently thousands of fossilized shark teeth live in the rocks.
The kids spent the better part of an hour digging dozens of shark teeth out of the creek bed.
After they collected all they could find, we enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading to a zipline.
Sarah is a little young for ziplining, but Ellie, 4, jumped right into the seat, and to our surprise, made the 85 mile per hour trip to the bottom with a smile on her face.
The final leg of the afternoon was a quick swim in a nearby pond.
If there’s one thing I can say for our girls, they love to swim.
It was a full day of outdoor activities, and I think it was great for us to get out and enjoy the open air.
It’s very easy to get down about COVID-19.
The virus has placed many limitations on what we can and cannot do, or rather, what we should and should not do.
There may be even more limitations to come in the future, but we should not allow the virus to control us, nor should we allow it to lead us into debilitating hypochondria.
It’s okay to have a healthy sense of fear about the virus.
A healthy reaction to that fear is to wear masks when in crowded and public buildings and to stay six feet from folks when at all possible.
But we should still find the time and space to get out and enjoy walks, jogs, swimming and other activities that are good for the mind and the body.
We may not be able to do Chuck-E-Cheese these days, but we can do Shark Tooth Creek.
And it’s totally worth it.
