(Excerpt)

Grant Wahl Was a Loving Husband. I Will Always Protect His Legacy.

Jan. 8, 2023/NYT/ By Céline Gounder

Dr. Gounder is an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist. She is the widow of the sports journalist Grant Wahl.

(…)

As soon as the news became public, rumors and disinformation began to spread. Amid seemingly inexplicable tragedy, there’s an understandable reflex to grasp onto narratives that could explain how something so shocking could occur. Even those of us who love Grant did so in our grief. But soon strangers began blaming Grant’s death on Covid-19 vaccines, a playbook I know all too well and a move I refuse to let stand.

I knew that disinformation purveyors would blame Grant’s death on Covid vaccines, and I knew what tactics they would use to do so. I also knew that debunking what these people believe head-on in public risks giving them the attention they crave and invites further trolling. But this situation was different from the many others I’d dealt with as an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist or while serving on the Biden-Harris transition Covid Advisory Board. This was my Grant, and I needed to know what had happened to him. And I knew I had to share that information publicly: Pairing facts with empathy is the best way to disempower trolls.

(…) His autopsy was performed at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, which is staffed by some of the world’s top pathologists and forensic scientists. I wanted his autopsy results to be unimpeachable.

Collab is group of investment fund advisors whose blog posts often apply to managing more than one’s money. The below post on risk is one of them.

If we anticipate risk at every turn we become paralyzed with fear. That said, if we consider it more often than we do, we can prevent a lot of heartache.  

Nobody Planned This, Nobody Expected It…

The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest battle in history. With it came equally superlative stories of how people dealt with risk.

One came in late 1942, when a German tank unit sat in reserve on grasslands outside the city. When tanks were desperately needed on the front lines, something happened that surprised everyone: Almost none of the them worked.

Out of 104 tanks in the unit, fewer than 20 were operable. Engineers quickly found the issue, which, if I didn’t read this in a reputable history book, would defy belief. Historian William Craig writes: “During the weeks of inactivity behind the front lines, field mice had nested inside the vehicles and eaten away insulation covering the electrical systems.”

The Germans had the most sophisticated equipment in the world. Yet there they were, defeated by mice.

You can imagine their disbelief. This almost certainly never crossed their minds. What kind of tank designer thinks about mouse protection? Nobody planned this, nobody expected it.

But these things happen all the time.

1. What do I want to create in this New Year?
2. And, perhaps even more importantly, What do I want to let go of?

– Patricia Digh, Life is a Verb

Below is Krista Tippett’s letter to the readers of The Pause. Lately I, too, have been thinking about how dependent our entire system is on the well-being of our bodies.  

But where will we land, ultimately?

Will we have grown-up a bit as a result of Covid?

Will we have more open hearts and minds?

Will we address gun violence at last?

Will we dig deep to find emotionally mature intelligent men and women to lead of country? 

Or will we continue to let our judgment slide because we’ve been emotionally scattered and shattered by the slap-in-the face realization we could die – soon.

How will we take that message forward?

Will we remain scared-silly about what we don’t control and turn inward, isolate and cling to cockamamie conspiracies to compensate for our newly realized lack of power…  or will we be “better” for the experience?

Could we learn from it? And act more responsibly than we ever have… in gratitude for being alive.

As Krista asks: can we and will we care?   

Therapy. Something to think about…

Why Do We Struggle So Much to Heal Ourselves?

By Ben Fishel

Last week I picked up the phone to talk to someone who was interested in getting therapy. The conversation went smoothly, until they asked the dreaded question.

It’s a question that is surprisingly common when people come to therapy for the first time.

The question that all therapists have to answer, yet would prefer not to (actually, I’ve never asked anyone else about this…I’m just being dramatic.)

“What can you do that can help me be happy again?”

Nick Cave answers his fans questions, beautifully, on a regular basis. Below is his Nov 2022 “The Red Hands Files” post. It reminds me of the Craig Ferguson quote I have posted in my kitchen: “Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me – right now? 

Enjoy.

Best, Vicki

The Red Hand Files

ISSUE #212 / NOVEMBER 2022

Is it better to keep quiet, or to speak one’s mind?
LAURA, RICHMOND, USA

I have heard you mention ‘good faith conversations’ several times now. What is a good faith conversation and how do you have one?
RAY, LEWES, UK

Dear Laura and Ray,
 
A good faith conversation begins with curiosity. It looks for common ground while making room for disagreement. It should be primarily about exchange of thoughts and information rather than instruction, and it affords us, among other things, the great privilege of being wrong; we feel supported in our unknowing and, in the sincere spirit of inquiry, free to move around the sometimes treacherous waters of ideas. A good faith conversation strengthens our better ideas and challenges, and hopefully corrects, our low-quality or unsound ideas.