I have seen a disturbing correlation between all of the latest headlines. The big headline de jour is whether the torture of prisoners by our own military officers at detention centers should be considered justifiable if good information comes out of the use of such torture. I remember a time not too long ago when papers became available for medical use from Germany. These papers were full of experiments (most done in various forms of human torture) in the name of Science. The data compiled could possibly be used in many different ways, to help mankind but at what expense & the controversy was, should it even be considered at all. So many lives had been horrifically abused and many even extinguished without regard of the victims in the process.
Today, I heard that a mother had served her "full" sentence for the murder of her own child. She was seen leaving the jail. Her sentence was four years in prison and her daughter, it was explained, was a child with downs syndrome. Most folks seemed to think this was a justifiable amount of time given the circumstances.
The day before on the news, there was talk of outrage at a Florida Prison for using an electrical shock on some visiting students to the prison. How dare this prison do such a thing to these children and yet I know for a fact that more electrical shocks (yes, plural) happen to children at what is considered to be an "educational center" for children with challenges. Children have been known to be shocked as many as 77 times as punishment at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center which is still "business as usual" at present. I suppose if you are a challenged person with limited ability it is justified by some, to be treated this way
As for stem cell research killing an embryo to save another life is justifiable to some. Killing small animals by crushing them under your heel is justifiable torture and considered as Freedom of Speech to others. Still taking the feeding tube away from the old and infirm to allow them to slowly starve to death is okay for yet another group of people.
What it all boils down to is Quality of Life. Some folks feel that their quality of life is worth more than anothers. If his life is more worthwhile than her life, if my life is worth more than your life, if their lives are worth more than our lives, then whatever is done can be justifyable.
What happens to humanity when they realize that they can do such a wide range of things but then they forget to ask themselves if they should do them. Do we become like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? Not the creation that could not help but be who he was but the Doctor that felt justified in his experiment thus becoming a True Monster in the process.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
H1N1 Worries? Is it Time?
I know alot of people are worried about getting the latest virus and the threat of Pandemic. If you are doing all you can for you and your family but still worry about falling ill, your health worsening and the possibility of dying...then this blog is for you.
Your time will come for dying and when death comes for you, there is nothing you will be able to do, you are going to Die - period. This is the Blunt Truth about Life, Everyone will die. You may eat sensibly, excercize, take all of the vitamins & medicines that you can and this may extend or prolong the inevitable (or maybe not) but eventually your time will come.
So start today on all of those projects you've always wanted to do, show those you love how much you care and as the sayings go, Live today like it is your last / Carpe Diem! / Just Do It.
Let me give you two great examples of folks that wanted to change the time of their ultimate demise;
#1.
I read in the paper about a guy whose hobby was Drag Racing. He was good at racing but as he got older, he began to worry that this may shorten his life, so he quit. Instead, he picked up the hobby of flying model airplanes. This he figured, would be a much safer hobby for him. One day, he was working the remote control on one of the models he had up in the air when something malfunctioned & the model plane came straight at him. The small plane hit the man in the chest, stopping his heart & killing him instantly! Such a freak accident - who would have thought such a thing could happen, yet it did.
#2.
Another article I read was regarding a woman that had wanted to commit suicide. She decided to jump from the top of a tall building and end her life. What she didn't expect, as she jumped off the building, is that the awnings (that covered most of the windows) would break her fall and many of her bones too. She made it to the ground and although she had shattered and broken many bones, she was very much alive.
Two people with two self-planned destinies....the plans just didn't go the way they had wished. I try to remember these two stories when I get too caught up with worrying about things that I have no control over. No one knows when their time is up & when that time comes no one on God's Green Earth can stop it from happening.
Although both stories are true but grim, they may help you realize that worrying is just a waste of your precious time. Now quit reading this blog, quit worrying and get out there and LIVE
:-)
Your time will come for dying and when death comes for you, there is nothing you will be able to do, you are going to Die - period. This is the Blunt Truth about Life, Everyone will die. You may eat sensibly, excercize, take all of the vitamins & medicines that you can and this may extend or prolong the inevitable (or maybe not) but eventually your time will come.
So start today on all of those projects you've always wanted to do, show those you love how much you care and as the sayings go, Live today like it is your last / Carpe Diem! / Just Do It.
Let me give you two great examples of folks that wanted to change the time of their ultimate demise;
#1.
I read in the paper about a guy whose hobby was Drag Racing. He was good at racing but as he got older, he began to worry that this may shorten his life, so he quit. Instead, he picked up the hobby of flying model airplanes. This he figured, would be a much safer hobby for him. One day, he was working the remote control on one of the models he had up in the air when something malfunctioned & the model plane came straight at him. The small plane hit the man in the chest, stopping his heart & killing him instantly! Such a freak accident - who would have thought such a thing could happen, yet it did.
#2.
Another article I read was regarding a woman that had wanted to commit suicide. She decided to jump from the top of a tall building and end her life. What she didn't expect, as she jumped off the building, is that the awnings (that covered most of the windows) would break her fall and many of her bones too. She made it to the ground and although she had shattered and broken many bones, she was very much alive.
Two people with two self-planned destinies....the plans just didn't go the way they had wished. I try to remember these two stories when I get too caught up with worrying about things that I have no control over. No one knows when their time is up & when that time comes no one on God's Green Earth can stop it from happening.
Although both stories are true but grim, they may help you realize that worrying is just a waste of your precious time. Now quit reading this blog, quit worrying and get out there and LIVE
:-)
Monday, May 4, 2009
Weeding Out the Undesirable
There seems to be so much talk about Genetic Screening and now a call for Genetic Therapy even for the (yet) unborn as the Push for Perfection rages on. I can't help but feel the need to ask this question; should a diagnosis of diversity and difference always be seen as a tragedy?
Society's need for "Designer" Babies grows and even though some seemingly devastating disabilities, diseases, physical challenges and frailties have a large affect on humanity, history has shown us that it has not all been a negative force with a need for elimination or cure. I sometimes feel adversity can be one of mankind's best tools for forcing creativity into motion. Let me give you a few examples:
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Polio kept him confined to a chair but his strong guidance helped us get through the Great Depression and WW 2.
Stephen Hawking - His challenges are many but his inner strength and intelligence are unparalleled in his contributions to physics & the field of astronomy.
Ray Charles - I can't help but think that his lack of sight helped him to see music in a way we can only dream to understand it.
Thomas Alva Edison - who had 1,093 patents for inventions in his lifetime, was too disruptive in his own classroom to the extent that his mother finally pulled him from conventional schooling and home-schooled him. I wonder what drugs they would have forced on him if he had lived in the present time?
I'm not saying that these (and many, many more) individuals would have been any less great without their challenges, but some part of me wonders if their strength came from the very, so called, "human weaknesses" that someday we wish to eliminate.
The list could go on and on with the names of many individuals throughout our past and in recent history that have used what some would see as a barrier or a difference to achieve remarkable and uncommonly distinctive things. Is it a possibility that without our challenges and obstacles we would lack our unique individuality and our ability to think original thoughts? Would our very own creative essence be lost in the quest for conformity and perfection? This is something we need to ponder and examine as we decide whether or not to dedicate humanity to a life of uniformity & perfection.
Society's need for "Designer" Babies grows and even though some seemingly devastating disabilities, diseases, physical challenges and frailties have a large affect on humanity, history has shown us that it has not all been a negative force with a need for elimination or cure. I sometimes feel adversity can be one of mankind's best tools for forcing creativity into motion. Let me give you a few examples:
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Polio kept him confined to a chair but his strong guidance helped us get through the Great Depression and WW 2.
Stephen Hawking - His challenges are many but his inner strength and intelligence are unparalleled in his contributions to physics & the field of astronomy.
Ray Charles - I can't help but think that his lack of sight helped him to see music in a way we can only dream to understand it.
Thomas Alva Edison - who had 1,093 patents for inventions in his lifetime, was too disruptive in his own classroom to the extent that his mother finally pulled him from conventional schooling and home-schooled him. I wonder what drugs they would have forced on him if he had lived in the present time?
I'm not saying that these (and many, many more) individuals would have been any less great without their challenges, but some part of me wonders if their strength came from the very, so called, "human weaknesses" that someday we wish to eliminate.
The list could go on and on with the names of many individuals throughout our past and in recent history that have used what some would see as a barrier or a difference to achieve remarkable and uncommonly distinctive things. Is it a possibility that without our challenges and obstacles we would lack our unique individuality and our ability to think original thoughts? Would our very own creative essence be lost in the quest for conformity and perfection? This is something we need to ponder and examine as we decide whether or not to dedicate humanity to a life of uniformity & perfection.
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