A-OK
I was initially going to write a list of book recommendations for the quarantined bibliophile but then decided not to. Why? Because I don’t want to. I don’t want to talk about the quarantine right now. I don’t want to remember that we’re all stuck inside holding our breath and can’t even go to the library to pick up the books I’d recommend (though you should still read Tess of the d’Urbervilles). I want to suspend my common sense for a while and act like nothing is wrong anymore. So, I’m going to discuss some things that are going pretty well right now and that aren’t really related to COVID-19.
It’s Finally Spring
It is, seriously! Look outside, it’s the sun, and it doesn’t go down at four o’clock in the afternoon! There are flowers and leaves in the trees and it isn’t raining every other day. While I can’t exactly wax nostalgic about the melting snow (on account of the fact that we had no snow), the world is finally looking a bit brighter and there’s nothing wrong with finding some solace in that.
Plastic Breakdown Enzyme
According to this article by The Guardian, scientists have created a mutated enzyme that breaks plastic down and can be used to boost recycling. This is pretty awesome, considering how much plastic waste contributes to climate change and pollution. Climate change was a serious hot potato before the virus outbreak and just because we’re dealing with something else now doesn’t mean people have stopped working on solutions for other issues as well.
Rising Literacy Rate
The global literacy rate for 2020 is 86.3%! It’s not perfect, not by a long shot, and in several countries, the rate of literacy falls under fifty percent, but every step counts. Literacy is something few of us stop to consider, excluding documentaries and news articles, so this is just a small reminder that progress is still being made.
There’s Always Cake
Nothing is preventing you from enjoying some cake at this very moment. Do it. I’ll wait. Go bake one if you need to. Go buy one. And even if something is stopping you, be it circumstances or something personal, relish the knowledge that cake exists in this world. I’m not sure how relevant this knowledge is, but if this isn’t an uplifting reminder, I don’t know what is.
New Depression Treatment
Okay, that’s probably a weird word to pick for an article that’s intended to be uplifting, but hear me out: an experiment conducted by Stanford University has seen positive results in applying magnetic brain stimulation to severely depressed individuals. I’ll leave the technical stuff to the article itself (since I’d probably get it wrong), but this is, without a doubt, awesome news for those struggling with depression. They’re even considering applying the treatment to other conditions as well, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorders.
