Scattershooting

There are some things in pop culture about which I am usually indifferent. I just don’t care. 
Chief among them is the British Royal Family. I tend to think we fought a revolution to be free of a monarch, so I usually don’t give them much thought. 
The media circus that surrounds the royals baffles me. 
This all came front of mind a few weeks ago when speculation abound about Princess Kate.
She had avoided the public eye for a few months. A Photoshopped image set the world on fire. 
The conspiracy theorists on social media said she was MIA— body doubles, fake photos, the works. These  people never give up. 
Then Kate announced she has been undergoing cancer treatment. 
She asked for privacy and prayers. 
When I saw this news, I told Jennifer, “I hope they can leave this poor woman alone now.” 
Sometimes we forget that celebrities and royals are just like us— they are people, human beings with families and priorities and real-life issues. 
An NPR correspondent reported late last week, “a sense of shame across the UK,” for the premature, ridiculous conclusions— and rightfully so. 
I hope we can move on, and I wish nothing but the best for the House of Windsor. 
---------------------------
A medical study in Germany recently found that babies smell like flowers and teenagers smell like goats. 
I’m not kidding. 
According to NPR, researchers found that teen subjects emitted two steroid compounds that smaller children did not.
This was because they’d entered puberty and their sweat glands had begun working. 
Those compounds were described as smelling like cheese, urine, sandalwood and an animal universally acknowledged as “stinky goats.”
Toddlers, in comparison, smelled wonderful – like flowers, soap and violet.
The evolutionary theories about why this phenomenon happens are varied. 
I’m not sure how much this study cost or how long it took to undertake, but I— along with anyone who has ever raised a child into adolescence— could have saved the institution a lot of time and money. 
The findings don’t seem that earth-shattering to me. 
--------------------------
I try to avoid the perils of political commentary on social media. I tend to think newspeople should leave their opinions on decisive issues out of political discourse unless, of course, it is vetted and crafted as a column on the newspaper’s opinion page. 
Social media malaise is a problem in this country. 
Folks are too quick to condemn and criticize. 
Many would rather hide behind their phone screen instead of engaging in substantive discourse over a cup of coffee. 
No matter our walks of life, we have more in common that most will concede. 
Social media deepens our divide and leaves us in information silos. 
This impedes our ability to find common solutions to problems in our community. 
Instead of complaining online about issues we know little about, we should seek to learn more about said affairs.
It’s hard to be part of the solution if we are complaining all the time. 
It’s like the old Todd Snider song says (excuse the language): 
“I was talkin’ to my girlfriend/I told her I was stressed/I said I’m going off the deep end/She said ‘give it a rest’/We’re all waiting in the dugout/Thinking we should pitch/How you gonna throw a shutout/If all you do is bitch.”
The baseball metaphor is apt for this time of year.
Get out of the dugout of social media and onto the field of real life. 
---------------------------
Easter is Sunday. It was hard to tell Tuesday morning when we woke up to 34 degrees, but spring has sprung. 
The trees are blooming. The wildflowers are popping up along the highway. 
Jennifer and I went to Spring Creek Nursery Saturday and we were not alone. 
Far from it. A flood of people had the same idea. 
Plants are being rooted in the promise of new beginnings. 
That is what spring affords— the promise of regeneration. That is the very essence of Easter. 
The promise of resurrection reminds us that there are always new beginnings. Spring is the natural incarnation of this. 
While it is a time of new beginnings, it also affords a time of reflection. 
No matter your plans for Easter, the Lewter family wishes you a joyous day with family and loved ones. 
Happy Easter from all of us to all of you.