Shelter in Place with your Spouse

So one spouse is just constantly watching the news on— oh, it's not really news— is watching the hysteria on many of the news channels, and the other one just wants peace and quiet. So that could be a source of friction, obviously. I have a piece up you should, I think you would all benefit from, Suggestions for This Difficult Time, it is titled. It's up at DennisPrager.com. It came out yesterday, Tuesday column. One of my suggestions is that you just not watch the news. I'm for reading, I've always been that way. There's panic in what is written, but it is not quite like it is on TV news. And anyway, you could choose what you read. You can't choose what you watch. They tell you what to watch, obviously, by definition. And I, I think people should watch I Love Lucy reruns and bring some joy. You know what you should watch? I'll tell you what, uh, I was commenting on this months ago. It just came up for some reason on my YouTube channel, and it was Groucho Marx's show, the You Bet Your Life. Groucho Marx was, was a legend. The Marx Brothers were legends. And it is, for those of you who don't know him, you, first of all, you owe it to yourself to know the, the American past. The ignorance of the past is, is unique in American history. People don't know. And now we— you can actually watch it and be entertained by it. The Groucho Marx Show will reveal a lot about the America of the 1950s. I assume that was when his show was on. Was that You Bet Your Life? The 1950s. So you can go back, you know, quite a number of years now. That's, you know, 70 or 65 years ago, and see what Americans would laugh at and how they were able to laugh. But anyway, those are things to do now, as well as your hobbies and other things, but I'll talk about that, those general things on the Happiness Hour. But right now I am curious to know, how are you getting along? It is now, we're in the second week. Of going nowhere. I mean, it's an astonishing thing, going nowhere. And for many of you, no income. Is that a source of tension in your marriage? Finances is, I think, the number one issue of tension in marriages. At the same time, I want to read to you One of the comments in the New York Times, you know, people comment, I read comments all the time. That's your chance to meet the public. It is a unique opportunity to see what the public thinks. When I read comments in the New York Times, I get a little depressed. Because if that's what the left-wing New York Times reading public thinks, the irrationality is so deep. That it is disconcerting. These are well-educated people, profoundly irrational. But this is, that's a separate issue. This was written about one of the comments to the article about how the coronavirus isolation is affecting couples. But this is just for you to read, just for you to hear. Christine M. in Boston: I'm typically not a jealous person, but I am so jealous of everyone who is lucky enough to have a spouse or family to spend this quarantine with. I am a social person and sick with stress of what living alone means for me for the foreseeable future. That's another interesting topic that we— that it's not a male-female topic, but it's— I think we should deal with that on the Happiness Hour, or any hour. I don't even think it's necessary for that hour. If you're quarantined alone, I'll tell you this: if you are quarantined alone, you, you should have friends come over. I don't know what law I'm violating by advocating this, but your mental health is more important to me than the exceedingly remote likelihood of your dying from the coronavirus. Remember, you're contracting it, for the vast majority of people doesn't mean a thing. All right, so let's be, let's live on earth here. I— you should have— you should visit friends. I'm not saying you should have 10 people, but you should have somebody or 2 people. You can keep your 6 feet distance. You don't have to hug at the door. You shouldn't hug at the door, I'll acknowledge that. And you keep your 6 feet and you have people over, and you go over to people. Are there— are there states where you're not allowed in your car except for essential business? Has that been— has that been passed yet? I wouldn't be surprised. I wonder if New York City is— they're talking about closing the streets. You mean to car traffic? Well, then you can't visit anybody. Well, unless they're in walking or bicycling distance. You're allowed a bicycle? So anyway, how are you and your significant other doing in this situation? I am blessed because my wife is as calm as I, and there's not a bit— it doesn't feel particularly different, except for example, I look at the calendar and personally it's a very It's a sad moment. I was supposed to fly after today's show to Washington, D.C., give a big speech in Washington, then a big speech in Ottawa, and then a big speech in Budapest, Hungary. Needless to say, none of them are taking place. So I'll be sitting home instead of those speeches and speeches in the foreseeable future. A, the, the future, future historians will have to— and I don't mean 100 years from now, I mean pretty soon— if this doesn't turn out to be what was projected anywhere in the world, including Italy, What will people, how will people react? Will they say, whew, we really stopped millions from dying by destroying the economy of the world? Or, hmm, maybe the projections were really exaggerated. I don't know how people will react. I'll tell you this, it certainly will depend on where you get your quote unquote news from.