David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

Ten years later, it hurts to know she lost faith in me and gave up

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I never saw the letter coming. I thought she loved me too much to give up on me. I thought the choice was all mine. But I was wrong.

I remember the Saturday morning when I got the letter. We’re going to call her Linda, but you know that’s not her real name. I’ve never talked about this letter with anybody. Even now, there are things I can’t say — things that happened after this — because I can’t break the confidence of someone who I loved long ago.

Until this week, I hadn’t read the letter in 10 years. If I’m being completely honest, I’m not entirely certain I read every word of it when I got it. The initial feeling was one of numbness, but I quickly understood that what I was feeling was blinding pain. It hurt so much that I was in a daze.

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In a saner world, we would never hear a word about Jussie Smollett

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Until last month, I had never heard of Jussie Smollett. (I don’t watch television.)

I was vaguely aware of a television show called Empire, but I couldn’t have told you whether it was still on the air or not. And I certainly couldn’t have told you anything about an obscure gay actor on the show.

All of that changed last month when Smollett claimed he had been attacked by Trump-supporting white people in red MAGA hats. I quickly got sick of the story when progressives were screaming about the alleged attack, calling it a “modern-day lynching” and all sorts of nonsense that people say when their biases are confirmed.

For the last week, the tables have turned and Smollett has been arrested for making the whole thing up. Now I’m sick of conservatives screaming about the hoax. Their overreaction is just as insane as the reaction from the left was last month.

I just want to know why we allow media to fill our minds — and take our attention — with stories about nobodies such as Jussie Smollett.

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Man’s unconscious night after stroke leaves me uneasy about living alone

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The last couple of weeks have been terrible for Brian. His wife was diagnosed with cancer and it had already spread to other organs by the time it was found. She’s been in a Birmingham hospital getting treatment and Brian has spent much of his time at the hospital with her.

Late Monday afternoon, he returned home from the hospital, but he never made it into the house. Based on what was put together the next day, he had a stroke as he walked from his car to his house. He fell and laid unconscious in his yard — for almost a full day.

When Brian didn’t show up for work Tuesday, everybody noticed, but nobody panicked until late that afternoon. They knew his wife was in a hospital, so they thought something might have gotten worse for her. But when nobody could get it touch with him — and his wife knew nothing — someone from work called and asked police to check on him.

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