Did you hear that mighty earsplitting sound? It was the sky cracking in preparation for falling. It happened when the healthcare bill passed and is surely now in full freefall with its signing.

Before readers get their shorts or panties, if you are a female, in a bunch, this is not a column about the healthcare bill. Well it kinda is but not in the way you might expect.

Yesterday, I logged onto Facebook (yes I am one of those Facebook people but I don’t do Farmville so I’m not that hooked), and it was abuzz with comments about what happened in Washington, D.C.

It was mostly doom and gloom. How our freedom is gone. How we are now a socialist country. How President Obama wants to be king.

As I read, and resisted the urge to comment. (I did post one small comment even though I knew better because misunderstanding runs rampant when you start a conversation over the Internet.) In the midst of reading the “ain’t it awful stuff,” it hit me what an opinionated species we humans are and how much we love to argue about the rightness of those opinions.

It doesn’t take much for us to get full throttle into a (I wanted to put a word in here that starts with a “p” ends with and “g” and has an “issin” in the middle, but I knew it probably wouldn’t make it into print) contest to prove our point of view.

In fact, we get our fighting britches on in a split second when someone crosses us and we ain’t backin’ down come hell or high water.

OK, let me take a step back. I don’t think it is bad to have ideals that guide us. I do not oppose folks following the call of values they feel are important. Yes, we should stand in our truth.

Now that I’ve put in that disclaimer, people we need to at least try to find common ground because last time I checked we are all sailing in this ship together and if it sinks we are all going to be struggling for a lifeboat.

Besides that, it plain takes lots of energy to be right all the time and to defend it against others who think you are wrong. Over the years, it plum wears you out.

Recently, I discovered a great book by Gabe Berman entitled, “Live Like a Fruit Fly.” The book begins by describing a fruit fly’s life. The author writes:

…As far as I know, fruit flies usually don’t sit around watching American Idol. Fruit flies probably don’t waste much time on the Internet. Fruit flies rarely worry about their cell phone minutes. Fruit flies blink out of existence too quickly to go out of their way to be unkind to other fruit flies.

A fruit fly is born and then buzzes around a bit. It attends to its fruit fly agenda and subsequently succumbs to old age before witnessing a single change of season.”

He then adds, “Live like a fruit fly.”

If this quote in the New York Times about the healthcare bill is correct “… it could be years before anyone knows whether the legislation will have big effects on health care quality and the nation’s fiscal condition. Indeed, most Americans with insurance are unlikely to see any immediate change in their coverage…,” then fruit flies have the right idea.

All I know is when I looked out my window just now, the sky was a beautiful brilliant blue and I didn’t see a crack anywhere. So, until a chunk of blue hits me on the head, I’m going to enjoy the sunshine, and I’ll try to stay off Facebook for a while because I don’t think fruit flies have Facebook accounts.