Hindsight 2020

Observations from the front lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We're all on the front lines. We're all in this together. Granted some are in much worse situations than others. Everyone in my family still has a job to go to except for my 15-year-old daughter. She worked at a shirt and souvenir shop in Annapolis that has decided to close for the next couple of weeks. Months? The husband-wife owners of the shop are still trying to plot their way forward. The wife had another full-time job that she was just laid off from because of this pandemic. Like a one-two punch combination, now she and her husband are forced to close their shop and their only other source of income. They have two small kids and they're certainly not financially well off, by any stretch of the imagination. My wife's side gig as a professional face painter has, of course, come to a screeching halt. We were just coming into the busy season for face painting. The days leading up to and including St. Patrick...

Sometimes I find the best way to cope with adversity or sorrow or loss is to joke about it. Humor is a big part of who I am and how I approach life. My sense of humor has gotten me through some very tough and trying times. It has helped me to take myself less seriously. It has been a welcomed diversion when faced with grim circumstances and outcomes. But just like beauty, humor is in the eye (and sometimes ear) of the beholder. What I find funny, you may not. What makes you laugh hysterically may make me cringe or simply scratch my head in a perplexed manner. I think it would greatly benefit everyone to understand this sort of diversity when it comes to humor in order to better temper and gauge reactions to other people's humor online in social media-type settings. Granted, some memes and posts are just downright insensitive and offensive and therein lies the humor for that particular person. Some people's idea of humor is pissing off or triggering as many other people as possi...