Tag Archive for death

Some Facts About 36.7 Million People

December 1, 2017 Comments Off on Some Facts About 36.7 Million People

Not long ago, it was a death sentence.  It’s feared and misunderstood by many people. Even if it isn’t in the news as much as it once was, it’s still a huge health problem.

HIV/AIDS.

The situation is improving–mainly because of prevention and the fact that there is life-saving medical help. But people are no longer paying much attention to it or to those afflicted with it.

On this World AIDS Day, it’s a good time to catch up on the facts surrounding this disease that currently affects the lives of about 36.7 million people–plus their families and friends.  It’s time to fully buy into this year’s World Health Organization’s theme “Right to Health” and their slogan “Everybody Counts.”

Go to http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs360/en/ to read WHO’s fact sheet on HIV/AIDS.  Knowledge leads to understanding leads to compassion leads to a cure.

 

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Not So Unusual but Should Be

July 25, 2017 2 comments

Ohio executed Dennis McGuire over three years ago.  It took him 25 minutes to die, during which time he snorted loudly and gasped several times.  Is this “cruel and unusual punishment”?  The courts looked at the case, then agreed to let Ohio resume executions using the same drug combination.  Despite the fact that the drug that’s supposed to render the person unconscious didn’t do so in many cases, leaving the condemned writing in pain for long periods (like McGuire’s 25 minutes).

Now Ohio is about to carry out a quick series of 27 more executions using that same drug combination, making the practice definitely cruel and, unfortunately, not unusual.

With all the studies showing that the death penalty is not a deterrent, is far more expensive than life-without-parole, and can’t be carried out humanely, no wonder support is widespread in the U.S. for discontinuing this practice.  When are we going to make our laws catch up to our reason?

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Sisters in Widowhood

June 23, 2017 Comments Off on Sisters in Widowhood

I was prepared to feel sorry for myself.  This is my first U.N. International Widows’ Day.  I lost my husband last November.

Then I started enjoying the good memories of a 35+ year marriage.  And I realized how much luckier I am than many widows in the world.  I live in a free country, in safety, with enough resources to sustain me and then some, and a family–small, but here for me.

And I look at other parts of the world, where widows suffer immensely.  Their land taken from them.  Family members evicting them from the homes or even killing them. Shamed because their husbands are dead. Having to take their children out of school to work to support the family.

The U.N. is trying to solve these problems, but it will take a long time.

I’m deeply saddened by the plight of my sisters in widowhood.  I greatly miss my husband, but I am so grateful for my own life and for the fact that the U.N. is working toward better lives for my international sisters.

 

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Child Abuse, Racism, and Harvard

June 5, 2017 Comments Off on Child Abuse, Racism, and Harvard

Harvard is taking back the acceptances of ten or more students after seeing their comments on Facebook.  They’re part of a racist chat group.  Their memes, images, and jokes make fun of the Holocaust, sexual assault (including the benefits of sexual abuse of children), and the death of children (e.g., hanging  a Mexican child).

Those involved think it’s great fun;  Harvard does not.  They want no association with these racists and have told them so.

Harvard has taken the high road, emphasizing standards and human decency.  Thank you, Harvard.

 

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Personal: The Human Touch

December 5, 2016 2 comments

Thank you for your patience while I took some time off from my blog (as well as from many other things).  It has been a hard space in my life, laying to rest my beloved husband of 35+ years.  Being without him will continue to be hard.

But the experience reminded me of the importance of the human touch.  His fingers grazing mine when he needed something from the bedside table he couldn’t reach.  His smile as I rubbed his feet while we talked, with me doing most of the talking.  Mutual reassurance at 3 A.M. when I’d hear irregular breathing, lay a hand on his chest, and feel the pattern change to calmness.  That little current flowing between us as we held hands for our morning couple-prayers, even after the actual words came only through my lips.

Hugs of children, grand-children, and friends–hugs that brought healing tears and pushed away fears and anticipated loneliness.  And all their cheek-kisses, back caresses, adjusting wayward strands of our hair, finger massages, and quiet hand-holding for both of us and for each other.

During times of grave illness and death, loving people are frustrated because they really do want to do something to help.  So they say, “If there’s anything at all that I can do….”  What I want to say to many of them is that their simple touch brought us both so much comfort and encouragement.  To others I’d say that God gave us each a body so we can minister to each other through the grace of a simple human touch.

 

 

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Don’t Stop at Red Lights?

August 9, 2016 Comments Off on Don’t Stop at Red Lights?

Here’s an odd “Week” (I haven’t told you about one in a long while): Stop on Red Week, Aug. 8-13, 2016.  It’s a week declared by The National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR).  All of us, whether in a car, on a bike, or on foot, are reminded to stop at red lights.  Common sense, right?

Of course.  So why don’t we do it?  Look at the statistics for 2014. Some 709 people were killed and another 126,000 injured because somebody ran a red light.  I understand that we all lead busy lives, but too busy to spend a few minutes of our day stopped at a light so someone can cross the street, or too interested in biking to our  destination that we sail through (or cut into the crosswalk and pretend to be a pedestrian), or so daring that we dash across the street, thinking we can slip between traffic?

Anyway, at first I thought the idea of this Week was funny, as though we should do it for a week then go back to ignoring red lights the rest of the time.  Now, though, I see it as a great idea, but one that should be stretched out to 52 weeks every year.

Here’s an idea–when you see red, stop.  Be safe out there, please, Readers.

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Orlando Lament

June 13, 2016 Comments Off on Orlando Lament

Orlando: Another sad day for Americans.  More senseless deaths.  Another heartbreaking example of man’s inhumanity to man.

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Getting Dirty is a Good Thing

April 2, 2016 Comments Off on Getting Dirty is a Good Thing

As the weather turns nicer, thoughts turn to gardening.  But the soil is even more important than we usually think of it.

 

 

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What are the Children Guilty of?

January 19, 2016 Comments Off on What are the Children Guilty of?

More ISIS and Taliban bombings in the news, killing more children.  My question for those groups is this: What have the children done to offend your god?  I ask, too, Is your concept of Allah that of a supreme being who wants you to cause suffering and death to children who have no power or say over who they are, where they live, or what the adults around them do?

My Muslim friends are as horrified as I am.

 

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Can You be Sued for Helping?

July 31, 2015 Comments Off on Can You be Sued for Helping?

You’re at the scene of an accident and are a medical professional, or a non-medical person, or a shopper seeing a child in a closed-up car in the parking lot.  If you help, can you be arrested or sued for coming to the aid of a trapped or bleeding victim or for smashing in a window to save a child?  In some states, yes.

Some (not enough) states have “Good Samaritan Laws” which protect you.  Does your state have such a law?  Go to Safe Kids Worldwide and find out.

If your state isn’t listed, contact your governmental representatives and ask why not.

Whether a child is left on purpose or by a rushed, otherwise-good parent, there is no reason that 38 kids die each year after being left in a hot car. Our precious babies need everyone to look after their safety.

 

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