Earthquake!

If you live on the East Coast of the United States, you likely felt some type of tremor this afternoon when an earthquake centered in Virginia sent unprepared people scrambling for cover.

I myself was standing in the main office of my workplace, and didn't feel anything.

However, one of my co-workers thought she was having a stroke and asked why she felt like she was vibrating (no joke here). I suspected it had something to do with the construction crew in our parking lot drilling for soil samples.

However, many of my Facebook friends confirmed shortly thereafter that they too felt a rumble, and were panicking accordingly.

One of them compared it to the recent disasters in Haiti and Japan.

And THAT, my friends, is where I ceased being confused about the earthquake and instead became incensed about the sheer insanity that some people display.

The ground rumbled. That was it. Here on Long Island there was no more than a tremble. No buildings crashing to the ground, no trucks being swallowed up by huge cracks in the Earth. Not even a car alarm going off.

Entire areas of a country were destroyed in Haiti and Japan by natural disasters. How does that remotely compare?

I'm getting sick and tired of people making mountains out of molehills. If your finger hurts, you don't have cancer. If your car has a scratch on the bumper, it's not totaled.

And for that matter, gaining five pounds doesn't make you obese. Unless you already are obese. In that case, re-evalaute your eating habits.

This actually goes hand in hand with my entry from yesterday. This is such an "American" idea.

How have we become so obessed with stupidity as a culture? Everyone seems to have some incurable disease and the only medication is attention. If I have a cold, you have to have swine flu. If you have an incredible spouse, I have a better one.

Our culture as a whole has become one gigantic game of "Can You Top This?"

Am I alone in thinking that this is just getting a little bit out of hand?