“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world – the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -- George Bernard Shaw

A high school friend wrote this in my yearbook, with the exhortation to "be reasonably unreasonable". I've often said that one of my particular, err, talents is to see things from a perspective that is markedly different from everyone else's -- "to turn things on their ear", as it were. While I often gain perverse pleasure from finding a previously-unexplored viewpoint and making it public -- very public -- this trait often allows me to see important truths that may have been hidden to others, and to present them in a relatively reasoned manner.

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Somewhere between work and sewing the overgown for my most recent renaissance-faire visit, I managed to miss Friday's Blog Action Day. It's not something I feel I must participate in, but it's an occasional source of inspiration -- especially when it's a topic that can be turned on its ear.

This year the topic was water -- in particular, access to clean drinking water. Washing water. Safe, parasite-free water. Something that is lacking in many parts of the world. (At least one episode of Bobby G, Adventure Capitalist showed the eponymous individual playing a major role in bringing safe drinking water to a Nicaraguan community.)

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Nicole recently blogged about her late aunt's battle with the dual diagnosis of depression and diabetes, and wondered why -- with modern medical care available to her, and with prescriptions to deal with both illnesses -- her aunt took neither, allowing her body to destroy itself piece by piece, taking only the medications prescribed to her for pain.

While I don't presume to have known Nicole's aunt Margaret, I can see a number of issues that can complicate the combined issue of self-care and chronic disease in general, and diabetes in particular.

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One underlying theme of diabetes blogs and complaints is the difference of our daily routines from those of people who have never known a blood glucose test, never chosen foods based on specific ingredients or an organization's endorsement, never had to dress in a manner different from those around them, and never had to follow a ritual not of the mainstream. Yet we see, meet with, and talk to people who do this on a daily basis, who could never think of not doing this (or who would never consider it)... who do not have diabetes, nor are they housemates of people with diabetes. (READ MORE)

One of my scariest trips ever on bicycle was a seven-mile jaunt home from Watertown, Massachusetts to Cambridge in the middle of winter, after dark, on a three-speed commuter with no lights, on a stretch of road which had no street lights but a moderate amount of high-speed traffic. My fingers were freezing despite the warm gloves, and as much (or as little) ambient light as there was from the other side of the river, I found the lights of cars behind me to be a helpful aid as they approached -- but a bane as they passed, leaving me temporarily blinded by their relative brilliance.

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Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Every one of us with diabetes hears that clock ticking away.

Glucose, insulin, ketones, tests.
The endless cycle never rests.
Fail once to heed the daily strife
And that day you may lose your life.

Alarmists are everywhere. Family, friends, strangers, all with the best of intentions. (READ MORE)