I DIDN’T have the body for the American summer.
I mean, I didn’t really shape up.
The COVID year 2020 messed up all of us.
I didn’t go running as I planned.
I seldom left my house during the winter.
I grew a little belly fat.
But I’m still very sexy for 52.
***
When I went to visit my friend in Long Beach, and her family wanted to go to Redondo Beach, I just went along.
I went along for the pictorials.
It’s been years since I last roamed around Redondo Beach.
I like vamping at the pier.
But especially at this time.
Because the world is still suffering from the pandemic.
And some countries have declared lockdowns again.
***
A friend of a friend visited Los Angeles from Sacramento last week.
The friend and his friend wanted to see Malibu Beach.
I went along for the pictorials.
Then, I suggested that we checked out Santa Monica Beach.
And we vamped around the Santa Monica Pier.
Because I like taking photos with a sense of story.
I like editorial photos.
Not just snap shots.
***
The friend of a friend from Sacramento is a new immigrant from the Philippines.
So I wanted to advise her on how to be “liberated” in America.
How to embrace boldness.
How to practice her freedom and individual rights.
And the right to pursue happiness.
***
I wanted to make her understand that she can be anyone she wants to be in America.
And what better way to demonstrate that than show her what I can do in a public space.
***
A journalist friend has prodded me a few times to teach, or give a workshop, on how to tread the fine line between libel and bitching on the page.
My squabbles with some ignoramuses in the early years of my newspaper career (early 2000s) in Iloilo are a stuff of legend.
So yeah, I’m pretty good in the art of insults.
***
On social media, I have delivered the most scathing critiques of the various generations—from the Baby Boomers, to the Gen Y, and even the new Alpha Generation.
I’ve “insulted” the stupidities of Gen Z’s extra-sensitivity, mediocrity, smut writing, and even their irritating political correctness.
***
I have made fun of self-diagnosis, especially in the context of mental health and mental illnesses.
Because, in truth, I have “stalked” some people online in order to understand them.
I mean, if you are interested in someone, wouldn’t you try to read as much about them before you completely fall in love?
***
This other guy (because I have “another” guy!) is young.
Very young.
And very active on social media.
And he’s fond of sharing memes.
(I presume that he reads, and believes, the memes before reposting!)
So yeah, I understand where mental health issues (which I call stupidity) come from.
***
When you read opposing statements, or conflicting ideas, and you believe them both—
Isn’t that a recipe for craziness?
And so, this is my explanation for our young people’s mental illness:
They read all the crazy stuff on the Internet.
They don’t fully understand what they read.
They lack the critical mind to analyze what they read.
They end up stressed and distressed about what they totally misread.
***
I totally get mental health problems.
I’m a healthcare professional.
I’ve worked on a mental health unit in a prison.
I’m all for mental health promotion.
What I’m against is self-diagnosis.
***
When you diagnose yourself based on the symptoms you read on the Internet, guess what—
You will be sick.
And the youth have no mind of their own to distinguish truth, half-truths, and fiction.
They are also poor in reading comprehension.
How can we be sure they’re not just picking up the triggering words?
***
On that day at the Santa Monica, I posed half-naked at the pier.
It sounds crazy.
But, baby, I know what’s clearly crazy and what’s not!/PN
