Sugar

When I have read too much about the current President and his reign of incompetence, malice, and terror, I comfort myself with animal pictures and videos.

My favorite video I have shared twice with my friends, and still find as soothing as a Xanax. It is a scene from a Japanese garden that has been created to match the scenes of water lilies painted by Monet. There is a real pond stocked with water lilies, framed by trees, and with green plants on the floor of the pond, all in the same colors used by Monet.

The pond is stocked with two large koi who swim majestically into and out of the picture. The first one is orange and white, with accents in black. It starts off alone, and is later joined by a smaller, midnight-blue fish. Finally, the blue fish swims serenely across the screen, as sure and self-contained as a cruise ship. Watching it lowers my blood pressure and gives me peace.

I also really enjoy pictures of baby animals. This morning I viewed one that included exotica such as an axolotl, a dumbo squid, baby fawns, white bats, and other small furry creatures whose names I can't recall. Some of the critters had a tiny horn sticking up above their mouths.

I'm a lifelong fan of miniature objects, like small houses and tiny carvings, but I'm even more drawn to small living beings. Since I'm not quite five feet tall, I'm immediately comfortable with short people. And baby animals just turn me into a warm, fuzzy puddle. I theorize that nature makes babies intensely cute to keep them from being eaten, until they grow into the defenses that teeth, claws, and hooves will provide when they grow up. Soft, small, cuddly or adorably weird, baby animals radiate beauty, harmlessness, and hope. And I love feasting my eyes and emotions on their loveliness, as an antidote to the ugly in the world.