Apolitical twists

I ACCIDENTALLY opened yesterday Sun.Star Cebu’s “Live” section (page B3). I got stuck there momentarily instead of going to the other pages. I realized that this newspaper has things in its pages other than politics.

My point is that our lives cannot be glowingly lived by political events alone. There are other things that could keep our contemporary life exciting.

Consider this report about a man in Rockville, New York who “says he didn’t know it was a crime to laugh.” It seems that the man was slapped with two summonses for “disturbing the peace.”

It appeared that the police descended on the man’s home after receiving complaints from his next-door neighbor that his loud laughs could be heard across the driveway. He was charged for disturbing and annoying others.

And then there is the story about how some people were able to get rid of their paunch. They suggested exercising with their puppies.

They organized a so-called K9 Fit Club that offered “bow wow boot camps and other classes for people and their puppies to exercise together in Chicago and nearby Hinsdale, Ill.” The fitness center opened last year after founder Tricia Montgomery exercised with her dog and lost 130 pounds.

People who patronized the gym claim that the classes were beneficial to both man and his best friend. The club founder said that “dogs struggle with the same weight issues that people face, including heart problems and diabetes.”

Thus, people who work out at K9 Fit Club say “exercising with their dogs keeps them motivated. It cost them only about $20 per class.” And I would not be surprised that from here on, there would sprout similar classes here, too.

Then what about the 106-year-old who dropped out of school before he reached the ninth grade, and who spent practically more than a lifetime educating his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren just to see them make a go of their respective lives?

To cap these tales of events on the lighter side of life sans politics for a change, here is the case of a suspected burglar in London who was turned over to the police by “Batman.”

A man who was dressed “in a full Batman outfit” showed up at a Bradford, England police station and handed over “a 27-year old suspect in a red-hooded sweatshirt.” The man was tried in court recently for “handling stolen goods.”

Now, here we are enjoying a bit of respite from raucous politics through apolitical tales of the lighter side of living.