Embracing the Absurd

By Siggy Raible

It’s November and we’re closing in on the end of another year. And what a year it is!

It’s a rainy day and finding myself alone with my thoughts, I started to think about the little things that get under my skin. And then I thought about some of the absurdities of life. So here’s to my pet peeves. We’ll get into the absurdities later.

I have an immune disorder which requires my seeing numerous “ologists.” Do you feel as frustrated as I do trying to make an appointment with the doctor? I don’t know about you, but I find it irritating that an automatic attendant (a/k/a your “patient access representative” ─ it’s an AI ─ not a person) tells me to press various numbers/options to (hopefully) get to a human to schedule/re-schedule an appointment. (It’s like listening to your parents admonishing you to do something you don’t want to do.) You’re even told you can make an appointment through the “portal.” (What? Am I traveling into another dimension. As it turns out, yes, I am.)

So off I go to the internet. I get to the portal just to find out I can’t see the doctor until three weeks later. So back to the telephone. Is there anything more irritating than doing something irritating a second time ─ do we really need our blood pressure to rise just to make an appointment to see a bloody doctor?!

That’s peeve number one. On to peeve number two. Similar to peeve number one, but with an added extra rise in your blood pressure ─ an overseas agent. We all have electronic devices which sometimes go on the fritz. Of course, you may blame yourself because you have pressed the wrong key. So off you go for some technical help. You call and after you’ve pressed all the options and finally get a real live person, this person talks to you in some kind of technical jargon but with an accent. You can’t understand a word being said. Blood pressure is going through the roof! It’s a miracle we don’t have more strokes.

Okay. Here’s another silly peeve ─ odors. I’ve been watching broadcast TV (you know the TV channels with the advertising). There are odor reducers for our bathrooms, our furniture, our closets and the clothing in our closets. Even our garbage pails need to be deodorized. There are probably other places I’m not aware of that need spiffing up. But the latest ads I’ve seen are directed at our own bodies. Who knew that you smell in places you never thought of ─ like between your boobs!! I want to know if I bathe regularly, do I really need to deodorize the space between my boobs?!

Now here’s a really strange event that arose within the last month ─ the botched execution of a woman who was on death row for almost 30 years. When you are on death row you are kept in solitary confinement for 22 hours of each day. Then the date arrives when we ─ the state ─ pull the plug. Only in this case, the state of Tennessee tried twice to execute the woman. She survived and was then rushed to a hospital and put on life support. All of this seems to me to be punishment enough. What do we do now? Kill her again? Can this be considered double jeopardy?

Then we come to an inexplicable absurdity ─ Donald Trump’s deal to allow Russia to sell oil on the market. A little history is needed at this point. Way back in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine for whatever reason President Putin decided on. So the U.S. Congress invoked sanctions for this unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation ─ one of which was recently enacted. This banned the purchase of Russia’s oil. Then in 2026, the United States started a war with Iran. Iran retaliated by bombing oil tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Okay, so now there’s a worldwide shortage of oil (and other products). So what’s the solution our dear leader comes up with ─ a deal with Russia to supply the world with tons of oil ─ going against Congress’ own law which he recently signed. Follow me so far?

Now, you must know that Iran is Russia’s ally. It has sold and continues to sell oil to Russia at discounted prices. It has supplied technologies to Russia in the form of drones which are used to kill Ukrainians. So, in effect, if we purchase Russia’s oil, we are allies with Russia in its war with Ukraine. And, while the U.S. is purchasing oil, diesel oil in particular, from Russia, Russia is supplying the Iranians with information about the U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf. Remember, we are at war with Iran. So now we are an ally of Iran’s BFF?! Absurd? Yes! My advice ─ don’t embrace the absurd.