Well, this isn't about ice skating (though I'm old enough to have done that back in the day, on the C&O Canal near Georgetown), but during the first COVID summer of 2020, when everything was locked down -- you even weren't allowed to take your boat out onto the Chesapeake Bay -- I decided to go for a solitary hike one day, to break the lonely monotony...
.... and I came upon a young father and his perhaps 6yo daughter, sliding down a natural waterfall/rock formation into a cool pool of water in a wide stream. Around and around she went, sliding, splashing, laughing, with dad standing right there, nearby. He and I struck up a conversation, about how ridiculous it was that everything was closed -- all of the playgrounds, swimming pools, anything normal that a young person would naturally want to do.
While I was so happy to stumble upon this little family, it also left me with a great sense of grief, because this had already been going on way too long.... way beyond the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" nonsense. It had been about 3-4 months by this point, with no sign of letting up.
And while it was great to see this father and daughter enjoying the beautiful day, I thought about the other kids who weren't there also taking advantage of this natural playground, hidden away in the woods from the officials who, if they had thought or known about it, might have put up their yellow caution tape and "forbidden" signs.
Thanks, Dani. I had some encounters like you described. It was simultaneously creepy that so many people bought the scam and great to meet the few sane ones.
2020 was soooooooo dumb, with all the phony restrictions.
2021 was also soooooo dumb, with the school closures and shot mania.
Yes, so much fun was lost, along with the memories of them that you, I and many others have of ice time.
My dad took me skating on the canal when I was about the same age as the little girl who was enjoying the swimming hole with her dad.
I remember dad teaching me how to recognize ice that was too thin, and it's not that hard to figure out how to be safe. Sometimes you push the limits and learn the hard way. Or through cautionary tales or seeing someone else experience the consequences.
Nowadays, kids wear helmets, knee and elbow pads for everything. Not saying it isn't protective, but somehow it detracts from the exhilaration of living on the edge and surviving to tell the tale.
That is what makes it all even crazier - they put a helmet on their kid for every single activity yet inject them with countless poisons every year. It is completely absurd.
the longer it takes them to figure it out, the ruder the awakening. I suppose some might never get it.
My parents loved me and did everything they knew (at the time) to take care of me... and yes, that included the recommended vaccines. If they could have known that these were harmful, they never would have.
That's what's going on. The vast majority of parents are good parents who want to do the right thing.
You are right - I was an ignorant parent myself. I did not understand at the time that the government does NOT care about us or our children. I know better now. ANYthing that the government recommends at this point - I will not blindly do.
I had to laugh when I read your post about the helmets, knee and elbow pads. I was swimming at my son's pool last summer and they had company; a little girl - she had so much gear on to swim I wondered if she could enjoy the freedom of the water. Wings, goggles, swim shoes - I couldn't believe it.
Many of the public health guides that were out pre-2020 and cited during 2020 declared that the public health safety protocols were a product of "Equity." If a morbidly obese diabetic or unwell elderly person had been subjected to targeted interventions that would scream discrimination. It would've facilitated an 'inequity.'
So the broad community-wide restrictions, even on the healthy and fit, were necessary for 'Equity' and 'Ableism' concerns. "We're in this together!" "Don't you care about others who aren't as fortunate as you?!?!"
Proving Churchill's observation that the only thing Socialism shares equally is misery.
What it also serves to remind is that Socialism preys on the kindness of others. It sucks in followers and secures the obedience of a population by framing itself as" just being kind." Once it gains enough traction of a majority of people voluntarily "being kind" it moves in for the kill and demands, mandates the minority "be kind" too. Having secured majority support for the rationale to "be kind" it knows those who have already volunteered to "be kind" will become willing enforcers on those who must now be commanded to "be kind" just like them.
It's seductive, insidious and preys on human compassion. It's why our worst tormentors had been some of the kindest, nicest people we knew before 2020. The allure of equality, equity, fairness and kindness is what the worst tyrants and totalitarian regimes use to impose their will on their population. While some psychopaths and sociopaths are drawn to it, most are/were good people, who fell for the deception and preyed on their kindest instincts.
And they showed no compassion for those who lost everything during their beloved lockdowns, the children they forever traumatized, or those injured by their precious clot shot.
The only compassion that counts is linked to fashionable causes endorsed by pop culture celebrities and our favorite politicians after all.
Thanks for this memory! Growing up in Northeastern Ohio I spent many a winter skating on ponds and other water sources. I remember going over to a small pond by my house, taking my dog and the snow shovel to clean the snow off, finding a fallen tree to put on my skates and just enjoy the solitude of being out in rural Ohio alone on the ice. (I also remember the area I cleared wasn't very deep so I had to navigate around the weeds popping up through the ice surface-but it was still fun.) My mom used to skate in flooded areas in Ohio with us and she would put on her old hockey skates and make that two-skate sideways stop inches from us, icy snow flying up in our faces. The advantage of having two older brothers made her a strong, athletic woman in the 40s and 50s.
I still have photos of my high school boyfriend and myself enjoying frozen Stewart Lake that was close to his house- listening to those cracking and rumblings beneath the surface as we glided across-the only ones taking advantage of the perfect , smooth conditions that winter. I also went ice fishing with my dad at the local reservoir- skating from hole to hole to help him check if he caught anything. Funny that none of my three younger sisters ever even thought about going- and that's still the difference between them and I- it's HUGE!
I look back on those times and remember that our parents didn't even question what we were doing- how long we were away from the house or "my god, has anyone tested the thickness of the ice?" questions. Pure freedom to use our own judgement- which I don't think many younger people are capable of anymore-hence the group-think behaviors currently. Great morning read with my coffee- it's 4:40. Getting dressed (warmly- it's 40 degrees here in Az) to hop on my mountain bike for a quick 20 miles. The young girl adventuring out on the ice is still here!
That sounds great, Cheryl! Those are great memories.
When you mentioned the dog, I remember that one day, someone brought their dog to the swamp and it towed us around, one by one. We were all under 80 pounds.
Thanks for mentioning the snow shovel. I remember doing the same, we'd make paths through the snow to skate on. And Mark writing about the resounding popping noises the ice would make. I remember it as mostly happening at night. Or, maybe it was just scarier then! I hadn't thought about ice skating for a long time. Now I want to go. At 74 my skating wouldn't look too good, but in a way might be even more fun, just to do it again! Damn, just remembered I haven't had any skates for over 50 years. Gonna keep an eye out for some during the off-season after reading this.
I so want to skate again also (going on 72)- but m y balance might be way off due to a tumor I had removed from the base of my brain two years ago- I work on my balance by doing yoga, strength and mountain biking- but many I don't want to fall ice skating. Maybe a roller rink (loved that too!) would be better to "test the waters" before headed out on the ice! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
I hope we both get to go. It's up to us! That must have been a terrible and scary experience a few years ago - very glad you came out intact. I've taken a few pretty extreme tumbles without breaking anything that I'm not worried about falling on the ice, so I'm lucky on that score. Sounds like you're doing the right things. Any exercise is good. I'm partial to activities you do on your feet. I like the direct connection to daily functioning, balance, and being able to withstand falls. It's impossible to be sure you'll never fall, especially the more active you are. Best scenario, I think, is to be able to fall, brush yourself off, and carry on.
Another great adventure tale, & sober reflections upon today. Thanks, Mark.
Your last paragraph sure nailed it, & it compliments two of my favorite quotes in this arena:
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of Earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals."
C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis)
1898–1963
“Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.”
-Adam Smith
Just before I read your missive, I read this piece of good news (seems to be a lot of that, since J20th!), & I am looking forward to Bobby the K, Jr clearing up a lot of other shite!
Kentucky Becomes the 9th U.S. State with Legislative Efforts to Ban mRNA Injections -
Amid Interference by the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex (of course)
Mark - you said "Experimental injections for those healthy and under 70 didn’t even bear consideration. Nor, if you ask me, at any age," and you're right. I'm over 80, eschewed all the many covid shots and boosters, got covid (a crappy cold, really), and (obviously) survived. Frankly I think I got it from hubs, who got a booster and probably shed the spike protein. At any rate - I did talk him out of any more boosters and we've both been fine. It was just so very frustrating to be so confined and treated like a bunch of 4 year olds for - what? - three years. Devastating. Thanks for your columns. Best. Writing. Ever.
Oh, Mark, where do I start? As an 81 year old woman who survived the Scamdemic with no shots and maskless as much as possible I couldn't agree with you more. When I was in my teens I skated on Harvey's Lake every chance I got. I agree so much about gliding on the ice with the wind flowing around you and visions of going to the Olympics :-) as a figure skater. It was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done. We should be allowed to live our lives the way we choose as I believe when it's our time, it's our time. At 17 years old I worked in the State Department when Kenndy was president - unfortunately I was in a car accident on Rock Creek Parkway - thrown from the car and survived that also. No seatbelts at the time in 1962, and yet here I am to talk about it. I love your stories because you always bring back the memories of my youth and also dealing with the craziness of Covid when sometimes I think no one feels the same as I did. If they had let everyone alone and our immune systems kick in we could have lived a normal life and not have all these consequences like family members who still stay away because they couldn't understand the concept of not wearing a mask. My life is so different in my eighties than I ever expected thanks to the insanity of whoever or whatever pretty much destroyed family life and so many businesses.
Bunny, I’m happy to learn of another person close in age to me who didn’t get the jab. I was certainly in the minority among my friends! Growing up in MN ice skating was my winter sport. Oh, the fun of skating on outdoor rinks with warming houses! Those were the days.
Those certainly were such good old days and it's really sad that our younger generation thinks looking at a screen is fun. I made a trip to MN once; it's so beautiful there and I'm sure you were able to get way more skating in than me living in Pennsylvania. I'm jealous! :-)
I knew plenty of UNHEALTHY 70+ year olds who managed not to succumb to covid - my obese ex-mother in law with a dicky heart (who has never knowingly washed her hands) for one. That was a bit of a clue as to its level of lethality.
Great article - you really paint pictures with your words (reminds me of Garrison Keillor) especially as your experiences are so novel to someone living in England. I always dreamed of skating on a frozen lake in this land of rain, rain and more rain.
Great stack and writer . Mark you said something so kind when you broke your leg … even though you were stuck inside, you were happy for others who skated !!! Speaks volumes for your character! Btw , is Johnson and Donaldson Parks still have skating? Psst there is also a brook between Harrison and Cleveland Streets where we skated in those woods . 😉😁💞
No skating on those ponds. They were two of the places I alluded to.
Though both places flood and several times the river came over the banks and the 2 inch ponds created were skateable and I did so, at sunrise. It was great. Glassy.
For a bunch of years, they put up boards and flooded the area under the pavilion at Buccleuch and my son and I skated there, with some locals, and sticks and pucks. Great fun!
I have a friend that would always tell me "If it saves just one life" in regard to the government covid policies. He was very smart. He was world traveled having lived in Brazil, France and the US. He spoke several languages. He was college educated and went to Yale for graduate school. Yet, he never understood that saving one life could be applied to driving vehicles or a host of other things. If the nightly news he watched told him that the injections were needed to save lives, he firmly believed it. It appears that being book smart, world travel and a high-brow education isn't the same as having good common sense.
I'm always impressed by folks who can remember their childhood so vividly. I have minimal memories. I always blamed it on the fact that we moved every 4 years, but my siblings have no trouble remembering. I guess I don't have that ability. I enjoyed reading this. I had to laugh once during Covid (rare, I know). We were standing in line at our local farm store. I looked down and noticed the 6-foot stickers. They had been placed with the 'feet' facing backward to the next set of 'feet.' Which would have you facing the person behind you. I mentioned it, and the clerk said she hadn't noticed it. LOL. Thanks for the excellent article this early AM.
Another beautiful story Mark. I look forward to Thursday morning, so I can read Mark's latest. You made me laugh out loud. I sent that song 'River' to a friend not long ago. Funny how many thoughts, remembrances, fondness's are shared.
I too skated outdoors with many neighborhood people in Holyoke, MA. My graceful grandmother and mother both skated. There is not much else like being outdoors, under starry skies or sunshine, and floating on the ice. I used to sneak my horse out in the snowy, moonlit nights and ride bare back so that my horse helped keep me warm. Actually, I almost always rode bareback.
You used a few examples where the authoritarians could make ridiculous rules to further restrict life and pleasure. Don't give them any more ideas, please.
It is! There is nothing like sailing over the high grass, or careening through the trees, over fallen logs, or plunging into a body of water with a horse between your legs :)
Thanks for bringing back my many wonderful pond hockey memories, Mark. There is something truly magical and uplifting about it.
The "No Skating" trend hit me when I took my 10 year old son and his best friend to our local pond. Being an experienced ice checker, I quickly surmised that it was totally fine (at least 3 inches) -- especially since the pond section we were skating on was no more than 2-3 feet deep.
We were having a ball when a town cop walked out onto the ice to tell us we needed to stop. The town had decided it was too dangerous -- hadn't we seen the sign? Yes, we had seen the sign but I had told the boys I knew a lot about this and besides the water was too shallow to be a problem.
I pushed back a little on the cop (he was actually kind of embarrassed about it), just enough to show the boys it's OK to question the authorities if you have good reason (but do it respectfully).
I'd like to think that moment helped them a bit down the road.
Scott Kinghorn— Yes, I think that's exactly it. I wonder why they don't just have a sign that says, "Skate at your own risk." I guess that isn't good enough, or, who knows? But I think it's also a reflection of the fact that not enough citizens show up at city councils to speak out against the things they don't like. We're also lacking in good local reporting, in most places. So, in the mildewy dark, the nanny state creep proceeds.
Thank you for sharing these beautiful memories and stories Mark. Having grown up in Southern California, I didn’t know a single person who skated on a frozen pond and barely anyone who ice skated at all.
Our fun and socializing centered on swimming and going to the beaches in Malibu, which during 2020, were closed with caution tape reminding people to stay home and stay safe. Parks and pools were shuttered too.
Back in the day, pools weren’t fenced and we learned about the ocean and its power by boogie boarding and bodysurfing the waves, sometimes getting pounded into the sand and spun around and upside down waiting on the wave and whitewash to pass before coming up for air.
We learn by doing and watching -
It’s natural and healthy. From 2020-2023 children learned by watching people panic with masked faces and were denied the opportunities to do, to live and learn and fall and try again. Years were denied our children and I’m afraid we’ve only seen the beginning of the mass casualties to our next generations.
But today - the best MAHA day - arrived with hopefulness and a determination to never repeat what was stolen from us all.
God willing people will listen, watch and learn.
I could not wrap my head around people complying with this nonsense.
So many times I've said to myself, after finishing one of your essays, "They're all so good, but THIS is my favorite yet!" Well, I'm saying it again. :)
My older sister taught me, when I was five or six, to skate on a university lake in Southern Illinois, where my father was teaching at the time. The memory of that experience is indelibly imprinted in my mind--to the extent that I included it in a poem I wrote decades later. Due to chronic health issues, skating is no longer possible for me, but the memories are deep within me, always accessible, and can never be taken away by some insane and arbitrary authoritarian edict. You were so fortunate to have had the outdoor skating experiences that you did as a kid. . . and so fortunate to have the great writing skill to now bring these and other of your rich past experiences to life for others.
Well, this isn't about ice skating (though I'm old enough to have done that back in the day, on the C&O Canal near Georgetown), but during the first COVID summer of 2020, when everything was locked down -- you even weren't allowed to take your boat out onto the Chesapeake Bay -- I decided to go for a solitary hike one day, to break the lonely monotony...
.... and I came upon a young father and his perhaps 6yo daughter, sliding down a natural waterfall/rock formation into a cool pool of water in a wide stream. Around and around she went, sliding, splashing, laughing, with dad standing right there, nearby. He and I struck up a conversation, about how ridiculous it was that everything was closed -- all of the playgrounds, swimming pools, anything normal that a young person would naturally want to do.
While I was so happy to stumble upon this little family, it also left me with a great sense of grief, because this had already been going on way too long.... way beyond the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" nonsense. It had been about 3-4 months by this point, with no sign of letting up.
And while it was great to see this father and daughter enjoying the beautiful day, I thought about the other kids who weren't there also taking advantage of this natural playground, hidden away in the woods from the officials who, if they had thought or known about it, might have put up their yellow caution tape and "forbidden" signs.
Thanks, Dani. I had some encounters like you described. It was simultaneously creepy that so many people bought the scam and great to meet the few sane ones.
2020 was soooooooo dumb, with all the phony restrictions.
2021 was also soooooo dumb, with the school closures and shot mania.
Yes, so much fun was lost, along with the memories of them that you, I and many others have of ice time.
My dad took me skating on the canal when I was about the same age as the little girl who was enjoying the swimming hole with her dad.
I remember dad teaching me how to recognize ice that was too thin, and it's not that hard to figure out how to be safe. Sometimes you push the limits and learn the hard way. Or through cautionary tales or seeing someone else experience the consequences.
Nowadays, kids wear helmets, knee and elbow pads for everything. Not saying it isn't protective, but somehow it detracts from the exhilaration of living on the edge and surviving to tell the tale.
Def a much more cautious culture when it comes to ice, riding bikes, etc.
But ADD meds, 72 shots pre-18, weed, puberty blockers, etc: "You go, girl!"
Uh, I mean, boy. I think. Not sure.
That is what makes it all even crazier - they put a helmet on their kid for every single activity yet inject them with countless poisons every year. It is completely absurd.
Even untested ones!
the longer it takes them to figure it out, the ruder the awakening. I suppose some might never get it.
My parents loved me and did everything they knew (at the time) to take care of me... and yes, that included the recommended vaccines. If they could have known that these were harmful, they never would have.
That's what's going on. The vast majority of parents are good parents who want to do the right thing.
You are right - I was an ignorant parent myself. I did not understand at the time that the government does NOT care about us or our children. I know better now. ANYthing that the government recommends at this point - I will not blindly do.
I had to laugh when I read your post about the helmets, knee and elbow pads. I was swimming at my son's pool last summer and they had company; a little girl - she had so much gear on to swim I wondered if she could enjoy the freedom of the water. Wings, goggles, swim shoes - I couldn't believe it.
No bubble wrap?
Ear plugs? Nose clips?
Many of the public health guides that were out pre-2020 and cited during 2020 declared that the public health safety protocols were a product of "Equity." If a morbidly obese diabetic or unwell elderly person had been subjected to targeted interventions that would scream discrimination. It would've facilitated an 'inequity.'
So the broad community-wide restrictions, even on the healthy and fit, were necessary for 'Equity' and 'Ableism' concerns. "We're in this together!" "Don't you care about others who aren't as fortunate as you?!?!"
Proving Churchill's observation that the only thing Socialism shares equally is misery.
That's a good reminder of another really stupid aspect of the whole thing.
If you're heavy or otherwise afraid, stay home and/or wear your mighty mask.
"Spoken like a deplorable, selfish ableist!" I love it!
We suffer some of the stupidest leading 'experts' in world history. Or most evil. There's definitely a correlation between the two.
What it also serves to remind is that Socialism preys on the kindness of others. It sucks in followers and secures the obedience of a population by framing itself as" just being kind." Once it gains enough traction of a majority of people voluntarily "being kind" it moves in for the kill and demands, mandates the minority "be kind" too. Having secured majority support for the rationale to "be kind" it knows those who have already volunteered to "be kind" will become willing enforcers on those who must now be commanded to "be kind" just like them.
It's seductive, insidious and preys on human compassion. It's why our worst tormentors had been some of the kindest, nicest people we knew before 2020. The allure of equality, equity, fairness and kindness is what the worst tyrants and totalitarian regimes use to impose their will on their population. While some psychopaths and sociopaths are drawn to it, most are/were good people, who fell for the deception and preyed on their kindest instincts.
Misplaced empathy is another name for it.
Be kind is good.
But, think first.
What is really kind?
And they showed no compassion for those who lost everything during their beloved lockdowns, the children they forever traumatized, or those injured by their precious clot shot.
The only compassion that counts is linked to fashionable causes endorsed by pop culture celebrities and our favorite politicians after all.
Thanks for this memory! Growing up in Northeastern Ohio I spent many a winter skating on ponds and other water sources. I remember going over to a small pond by my house, taking my dog and the snow shovel to clean the snow off, finding a fallen tree to put on my skates and just enjoy the solitude of being out in rural Ohio alone on the ice. (I also remember the area I cleared wasn't very deep so I had to navigate around the weeds popping up through the ice surface-but it was still fun.) My mom used to skate in flooded areas in Ohio with us and she would put on her old hockey skates and make that two-skate sideways stop inches from us, icy snow flying up in our faces. The advantage of having two older brothers made her a strong, athletic woman in the 40s and 50s.
I still have photos of my high school boyfriend and myself enjoying frozen Stewart Lake that was close to his house- listening to those cracking and rumblings beneath the surface as we glided across-the only ones taking advantage of the perfect , smooth conditions that winter. I also went ice fishing with my dad at the local reservoir- skating from hole to hole to help him check if he caught anything. Funny that none of my three younger sisters ever even thought about going- and that's still the difference between them and I- it's HUGE!
I look back on those times and remember that our parents didn't even question what we were doing- how long we were away from the house or "my god, has anyone tested the thickness of the ice?" questions. Pure freedom to use our own judgement- which I don't think many younger people are capable of anymore-hence the group-think behaviors currently. Great morning read with my coffee- it's 4:40. Getting dressed (warmly- it's 40 degrees here in Az) to hop on my mountain bike for a quick 20 miles. The young girl adventuring out on the ice is still here!
That sounds great, Cheryl! Those are great memories.
When you mentioned the dog, I remember that one day, someone brought their dog to the swamp and it towed us around, one by one. We were all under 80 pounds.
Good times! Glad we were kids "back then"! :-)
Thanks for mentioning the snow shovel. I remember doing the same, we'd make paths through the snow to skate on. And Mark writing about the resounding popping noises the ice would make. I remember it as mostly happening at night. Or, maybe it was just scarier then! I hadn't thought about ice skating for a long time. Now I want to go. At 74 my skating wouldn't look too good, but in a way might be even more fun, just to do it again! Damn, just remembered I haven't had any skates for over 50 years. Gonna keep an eye out for some during the off-season after reading this.
I so want to skate again also (going on 72)- but m y balance might be way off due to a tumor I had removed from the base of my brain two years ago- I work on my balance by doing yoga, strength and mountain biking- but many I don't want to fall ice skating. Maybe a roller rink (loved that too!) would be better to "test the waters" before headed out on the ice! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
I hope we both get to go. It's up to us! That must have been a terrible and scary experience a few years ago - very glad you came out intact. I've taken a few pretty extreme tumbles without breaking anything that I'm not worried about falling on the ice, so I'm lucky on that score. Sounds like you're doing the right things. Any exercise is good. I'm partial to activities you do on your feet. I like the direct connection to daily functioning, balance, and being able to withstand falls. It's impossible to be sure you'll never fall, especially the more active you are. Best scenario, I think, is to be able to fall, brush yourself off, and carry on.
Another great adventure tale, & sober reflections upon today. Thanks, Mark.
Your last paragraph sure nailed it, & it compliments two of my favorite quotes in this arena:
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of Earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals."
C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis)
1898–1963
“Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.”
-Adam Smith
Just before I read your missive, I read this piece of good news (seems to be a lot of that, since J20th!), & I am looking forward to Bobby the K, Jr clearing up a lot of other shite!
Kentucky Becomes the 9th U.S. State with Legislative Efforts to Ban mRNA Injections -
Amid Interference by the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex (of course)
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/breaking-kentucky-becomes-the-9th
E
Thanks, Elliott.
Those are great quotes.
To the tyrants: I value my own life far more than you do. I'm a big boy. Don't mess with my judgment.
Mark - you said "Experimental injections for those healthy and under 70 didn’t even bear consideration. Nor, if you ask me, at any age," and you're right. I'm over 80, eschewed all the many covid shots and boosters, got covid (a crappy cold, really), and (obviously) survived. Frankly I think I got it from hubs, who got a booster and probably shed the spike protein. At any rate - I did talk him out of any more boosters and we've both been fine. It was just so very frustrating to be so confined and treated like a bunch of 4 year olds for - what? - three years. Devastating. Thanks for your columns. Best. Writing. Ever.
Thanks, Marcia.
Yes, the notion that 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 were perilous thresholds was detached from reality.
Oh, Mark, where do I start? As an 81 year old woman who survived the Scamdemic with no shots and maskless as much as possible I couldn't agree with you more. When I was in my teens I skated on Harvey's Lake every chance I got. I agree so much about gliding on the ice with the wind flowing around you and visions of going to the Olympics :-) as a figure skater. It was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done. We should be allowed to live our lives the way we choose as I believe when it's our time, it's our time. At 17 years old I worked in the State Department when Kenndy was president - unfortunately I was in a car accident on Rock Creek Parkway - thrown from the car and survived that also. No seatbelts at the time in 1962, and yet here I am to talk about it. I love your stories because you always bring back the memories of my youth and also dealing with the craziness of Covid when sometimes I think no one feels the same as I did. If they had let everyone alone and our immune systems kick in we could have lived a normal life and not have all these consequences like family members who still stay away because they couldn't understand the concept of not wearing a mask. My life is so different in my eighties than I ever expected thanks to the insanity of whoever or whatever pretty much destroyed family life and so many businesses.
Thanks, Bunny.
Yes, we've gone backwards in some important ways. Life is way too controlled now.
I'd say "from the cradle to the grave." But the IVF clinics are sorting through embryos and providing catalogs of eggs and sperm donors.
And in many places, you can't put someone's dead body directly in the ground.
Dear Bunny — triple amen to this: "We should be allowed to live our lives the way we choose as I believe when it's our time, it's our time."
Bunny, I’m happy to learn of another person close in age to me who didn’t get the jab. I was certainly in the minority among my friends! Growing up in MN ice skating was my winter sport. Oh, the fun of skating on outdoor rinks with warming houses! Those were the days.
Those certainly were such good old days and it's really sad that our younger generation thinks looking at a screen is fun. I made a trip to MN once; it's so beautiful there and I'm sure you were able to get way more skating in than me living in Pennsylvania. I'm jealous! :-)
Hard to express how much I loved this. It was magical! Thank you Mark!
Thanks, Momo.
If you've done it, you know how different being on outdoor ice is, esp. when many hide out inside.
One winter day, I tried to talk my little brother into going to the Industrial Park to skate with me. He declined. I asked him "Why not?'
He said, "It's too cold."
I knew plenty of UNHEALTHY 70+ year olds who managed not to succumb to covid - my obese ex-mother in law with a dicky heart (who has never knowingly washed her hands) for one. That was a bit of a clue as to its level of lethality.
Great article - you really paint pictures with your words (reminds me of Garrison Keillor) especially as your experiences are so novel to someone living in England. I always dreamed of skating on a frozen lake in this land of rain, rain and more rain.
Thanks, Bettina.
There's nothing like skating on natural ice. If you come to the US, I'll take you along.
Great stack and writer . Mark you said something so kind when you broke your leg … even though you were stuck inside, you were happy for others who skated !!! Speaks volumes for your character! Btw , is Johnson and Donaldson Parks still have skating? Psst there is also a brook between Harrison and Cleveland Streets where we skated in those woods . 😉😁💞
Thanks, Brandon.
No skating on those ponds. They were two of the places I alluded to.
Though both places flood and several times the river came over the banks and the 2 inch ponds created were skateable and I did so, at sunrise. It was great. Glassy.
For a bunch of years, they put up boards and flooded the area under the pavilion at Buccleuch and my son and I skated there, with some locals, and sticks and pucks. Great fun!
But they stopped doing that 15+ years ago.
I have a friend that would always tell me "If it saves just one life" in regard to the government covid policies. He was very smart. He was world traveled having lived in Brazil, France and the US. He spoke several languages. He was college educated and went to Yale for graduate school. Yet, he never understood that saving one life could be applied to driving vehicles or a host of other things. If the nightly news he watched told him that the injections were needed to save lives, he firmly believed it. It appears that being book smart, world travel and a high-brow education isn't the same as having good common sense.
Amen, Steve.
Many people are gullible followers. They do well in school b/c they give the teachers what they want and never think outside the box.
I'm always impressed by folks who can remember their childhood so vividly. I have minimal memories. I always blamed it on the fact that we moved every 4 years, but my siblings have no trouble remembering. I guess I don't have that ability. I enjoyed reading this. I had to laugh once during Covid (rare, I know). We were standing in line at our local farm store. I looked down and noticed the 6-foot stickers. They had been placed with the 'feet' facing backward to the next set of 'feet.' Which would have you facing the person behind you. I mentioned it, and the clerk said she hadn't noticed it. LOL. Thanks for the excellent article this early AM.
Thanks, Mary.
I do clearly remember a lot of stuff. It's a little surprising, b/c I've been hit in the head a bunch of times.
Maybe I get this from my father. He's 96.4 and can spout memories for hours on end.
So many of the measures were so plainly stupid, it was like they were mocking peoples' gullibility. Somehow people didn't see it.
It was/is stunning.
Good read. Ice fishing that’s a trip down memory lane. We used to race our trucks on the ice. Alcohol may have been involved.
Thanks, KB.
Wish I had been there.
Another beautiful story Mark. I look forward to Thursday morning, so I can read Mark's latest. You made me laugh out loud. I sent that song 'River' to a friend not long ago. Funny how many thoughts, remembrances, fondness's are shared.
I too skated outdoors with many neighborhood people in Holyoke, MA. My graceful grandmother and mother both skated. There is not much else like being outdoors, under starry skies or sunshine, and floating on the ice. I used to sneak my horse out in the snowy, moonlit nights and ride bare back so that my horse helped keep me warm. Actually, I almost always rode bareback.
You used a few examples where the authoritarians could make ridiculous rules to further restrict life and pleasure. Don't give them any more ideas, please.
Thanks, AnnMarie.
I never rode a horse that ran. It seems exciting.
You mean that you have ridden those rental horses on a guided ride where you only walk in a guided, single line?
Yes, a few times. Once or twice, the horse started to trot. I imagined that it might gallop a little. I imagined that would be thrilling.
It is! There is nothing like sailing over the high grass, or careening through the trees, over fallen logs, or plunging into a body of water with a horse between your legs :)
Thanks for bringing back my many wonderful pond hockey memories, Mark. There is something truly magical and uplifting about it.
The "No Skating" trend hit me when I took my 10 year old son and his best friend to our local pond. Being an experienced ice checker, I quickly surmised that it was totally fine (at least 3 inches) -- especially since the pond section we were skating on was no more than 2-3 feet deep.
We were having a ball when a town cop walked out onto the ice to tell us we needed to stop. The town had decided it was too dangerous -- hadn't we seen the sign? Yes, we had seen the sign but I had told the boys I knew a lot about this and besides the water was too shallow to be a problem.
I pushed back a little on the cop (he was actually kind of embarrassed about it), just enough to show the boys it's OK to question the authorities if you have good reason (but do it respectfully).
I'd like to think that moment helped them a bit down the road.
Thanks, CI.
The sound and feel of skates on outdoor ice...
I think a lot of towns, cities are afraid of being sued. Same with sledding in city parks. Sad.
Yes, the attorneys have messed some stuff up.
Risk should be assumable.
Scott Kinghorn— Yes, I think that's exactly it. I wonder why they don't just have a sign that says, "Skate at your own risk." I guess that isn't good enough, or, who knows? But I think it's also a reflection of the fact that not enough citizens show up at city councils to speak out against the things they don't like. We're also lacking in good local reporting, in most places. So, in the mildewy dark, the nanny state creep proceeds.
- edited to fix typo -
Thank you for sharing these beautiful memories and stories Mark. Having grown up in Southern California, I didn’t know a single person who skated on a frozen pond and barely anyone who ice skated at all.
Our fun and socializing centered on swimming and going to the beaches in Malibu, which during 2020, were closed with caution tape reminding people to stay home and stay safe. Parks and pools were shuttered too.
Back in the day, pools weren’t fenced and we learned about the ocean and its power by boogie boarding and bodysurfing the waves, sometimes getting pounded into the sand and spun around and upside down waiting on the wave and whitewash to pass before coming up for air.
We learn by doing and watching -
It’s natural and healthy. From 2020-2023 children learned by watching people panic with masked faces and were denied the opportunities to do, to live and learn and fall and try again. Years were denied our children and I’m afraid we’ve only seen the beginning of the mass casualties to our next generations.
But today - the best MAHA day - arrived with hopefulness and a determination to never repeat what was stolen from us all.
God willing people will listen, watch and learn.
I could not wrap my head around people complying with this nonsense.
Thanks, Lisa.
Well said.
So many times I've said to myself, after finishing one of your essays, "They're all so good, but THIS is my favorite yet!" Well, I'm saying it again. :)
My older sister taught me, when I was five or six, to skate on a university lake in Southern Illinois, where my father was teaching at the time. The memory of that experience is indelibly imprinted in my mind--to the extent that I included it in a poem I wrote decades later. Due to chronic health issues, skating is no longer possible for me, but the memories are deep within me, always accessible, and can never be taken away by some insane and arbitrary authoritarian edict. You were so fortunate to have had the outdoor skating experiences that you did as a kid. . . and so fortunate to have the great writing skill to now bring these and other of your rich past experiences to life for others.
Thanks, Louka.
Outdoor skating really is evocative.
It's great that you can remember it.