A phrase has been frequently popping up in the media and on signs in establishments recently that I’d never heard before: “out of an abundance of caution.” It most commonly appears, of course, in reference to mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic, though I have also seen it used in military contexts such as the holding back of 12 National Guardsmen from inauguration day duty.

The sheer amount of electricity required to power the volume of television I consumed as a child could have caused rolling blackouts in the average third world nation.

99 bottles of fear on the wall, 99 bottles of fear, take one down and pass it around, 100 bottles of fear on the wall. 

The breakup was inevitable. When you get up every day with fond hopes but are met with nothing but passivity—when you continually think and dream about the object of your affection and concern but there is no reciprocity — it’s only natural to finally give up.

You created more charts and graphs than you care to admit. You ordered books from professors in all the programs and practically read them standing beside the mailbox. You realized application fees quickly add up and required you to cease “treating yo’ self” for a long while. Now all that’s left is time.