Monday, May 14, 2012

Getting My Head Examined

Today was my long anticipated visit to a new dermatologist. I have been experiencing some strange symptoms in the place where I had a basal cell carcinoma removed last summer. My new doc also thought it strange, and so injected the spot with lidocaine, which caused it to swell and pop up, and then sliced it off to be biopsied. Tonight I have a bit of a headache, which is not surprising.

I should have known better. I should never have gone out without a hat or sunscreen, no matter the impact on my free-spirited good looks. I was warned about skin cancer, but it just didn't happen quickly enough. Had the really negative consequences followed my behavior immediately, I might have changed my habits.

Sally just told me of a climatologist who said that, had we started in 2005, a 3 percent carbon dioxide reduction would have sufficed. Now we need a 6 percent reduction. In 10 years, a 15 percent reduction will be required. Somewhere, some day, someone will be thinking, "We should have known better."

We all need our heads examined.

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