For the last week, I’ve been down with a terrible sinus infection and bronchitis. I usually don’t get this sick but it really wiped me out. Luckily, I saw the doctor and was treated to hopefully make my trip out to the Michigan State Plant Biotechnology symposium. Well, I did not get well enough to fly.

Just as I thought I was on the mend, I did a really dumb thing. I felt so good that I wanted to finish making my guava jam. Doing nothing makes me antsy and I wanted to get a project done. My guava jam was all ready to be canned when I somehow spilled the pyrex I had it in when a lid dropped. A nice cup of hot jam landed on my neck. I was sure glad it wasn’t the whole pot!

If you’ve ever had a burn, you know how badly it hurts. I went into first aid mode and quickly washed off the sticky jam searing my skin. I could feel the layers slither off as the water cooled it. After the hot stuff was off, I cooled it with a cold compress. It helped but the pain was just horrible.

As I sat waiting to hear back from the advice nurse, the pain just intensified for nearly 2 hours. It did eventually subside but still seared. Having intense pain really starts to grate on the mind. It started to make me think about how the anti-ag folks would constantly testify if the pain that they were in from living by farms.

The anti-ag folks would easily get packed up and on a plane to get to the hearings at the Capitol. There they would sit in front of legislators with their myriad of illnesses. Those emotional stories captivated the politicians who were so compelled by these actors. After testifying against farms, they’d all enjoy happy hour at the local bar to drink up some GMO appetizers and carcinogenic alcohol.

As I am sitting in pain right now, suffering is horrible. Real suffering is awful. The well-abled, claiming to be sick say they are in pain but look quite well functioning to me. These people have zero clue of real pains that they cause. If you are truly in pain, you will not want others to have to face it. They are well fed but make so many false claims that inflict real hardship in the others around the world.

If these anti-ag folks were truly suffering, they would be able to genuinely empathize with others. The truth is, they are not able to feel the impact that they have upon the millions around the world. They can only think of themselves and how they want to promote elitist organic, regenerative, Korean natural farming, permaculture, or whatever-is-trendy-sounding fairy farming terms to the non-farmer masses. They also thrive on using the courtroom to advance their claims while harming those farming.

As my neck still hurts like hell from my burn, I hope the politicians stop causing intentional pains to the ag community. We have been hurting for years because of your stances and decisions. You can ask for the farmers to shield you from the activists but we aren’t going to take it. Don’t smile at me while enjoying our papaya then legislate against us. Two faced people are saved for Halloween and aren’t appropriate for real life already.

Who needs zombies? I am one on Hallow’s Eve!