A Hand For The Dying

What do you give to someone who already has everything?  Some people are stumped by this but I think the answer is ‘your time’.  When a person is rich and has just about everything money can buy, real friends are usually what they need most.  Someone to spend quality time with.  Someone who is not hanging with them because of ulterior motives.  Now, what do you say to someone who is dying?

There’s a young woman in our church who has terminal cancer.  She has been given a short time to live. Before her situation became almost hopeless, it was easy to talk to her.  “Hey, how are you doing?  How is everything? Praying for you.”  It wasn’t awkward.  As soon as it was public knowledge that she her life was numbered, I couldn’t find words to say after ‘hello’.  I wanted to ask her how was everything but then I already knew how everything was.  If someone asked me that while I was sick and dying, I would be tempted to answer with some smart answer like, “Oh I’m fine.  Never felt better.  I am thinking of taking up rock climbing.”  So I don’t ask that.  Saying “I am praying for you” seems acceptable but what if she’s trying to keep her mind of her illness and just enjoy her last days? Can’t I just pray for her without telling her?  So too is “You’ll beat this!” That’s a bit facetious and misleading.

What do you say?  What should I say?  I sometime just place a comforting and reassuring hand on her shoulder and I think that must convey more than words.  In that touch, I let her know that she’s in my thoughts and I’m praying for her.  It also says to keep fighting and “We have your back, kiddo!” So maybe if you are in that situation, a hand on the shoulder could really speak volumes.

In some cases, the very words I hesitate to say could very well be the words that the sick person wants to hear.

Related articles

• The Last Words of the Dying (thepenbullet.com)
• Are You Really Sorry?

Texteritis almost claimed driver!

Texteritis warning

I wrote a blog a while ago about the new pandemic that was sweeping the world, texteritis.  Many of you did not believe me and ventured out without protection from this dreaded killer disease.   Some of you paid a high price and some barely made it.  Here’s a story of one such reader who barely made it.

By Jordana Divon

With all the horrific stories about texting and driving, it’s amazing how many people continue to do it.

And as QMI Agency reports, a 21-year-old man got a pretty terrifying reply from the universe to one of his on-the-road messages.

Chance Bothe had just typed: “I need to quit texting because I could die in a car accident” to a friend when he lost control of his pickup, flew off a bridge and went careening into a ravine 35 feet below. The Texas college student survived — but barely.

A hospital report revealed he suffered traumatic brain injuries, a broken neck, a punctured lung, compound leg fractures, a fractured skull, sternum and rib fractures, and a fractured face that required reconstructive surgery. Bothe required extensive surgery and six months of rehabilitation.

To his credit, the young man is turning his ordeal into a living lesson. He plans to spread the message, by example, that you can be a great driver and an even more dexterous texter, but there’s a reason both machines should be operated separately.

Now I hope that he learned a valuable lesson.  People, texteritis is serious!  Do not take it lightly.  You were warned.

Related articles

• Texteritis outbreak reported! (myvuze.wordpress.com)
• Video: College student drives off cliff while texting prophetic message (autoblog.com)
• Texting Driver Plunges Off Cliff: DNews Nuggets (news.discovery.com)
• Texas College student almost predicts his death caused by texting (intomobile.com)

Living in a bubble

Do you want to know how much our kids are pampered and coddled these days?  Well never mind, I am sure you do know.  It’s clearly visible every single day.  As a daddy, I am scared of what they are going to be like when it’s their turn to run this world.

Just a few weeks ago, I was at a bbq and happened to notice that one of the kids had a weird contraption that looked like a hand-held fan.  On the table was a shallow container with soapy water.  It didn’t take my rusty brain long to figure out what it was.  It was a bubbles maker!  You dip the fan-like thing into the soapy water, turn it on and voila! you’ve got bubbles without wasting a breath.  Heck, one could still keep up with their texts while blowing bubbles now.  Are you kidding me?

Our kids are missing the point on life.  It’s not about the bubbles, it’s the effort it takes to let out just the right amount of air to give you that perfect bubble.  Can’t our kids get a chance to break a sweat over anything anymore?  The schools work around them and allow them to be tardy and underachieving.  For example, at a meeting with one of our foster son’s teachers, he was told by the teacher not to worry too much about the work that he did not hand in during the term as he could always drop them off after exams and get his mark changed.  Now what is that doing to us who are trying to instill in him, the value of getting his work done and handed in on time?  What is this kid learning here?  That the world waits on him and he could get away with anything?

In sports, our poor over-worked children are taught not to compete.  Don’t keep scores and leave the nets empty. (no goaltenders).  It’s all about the fun of the game.  Who cares about developing the kids early? Thank goodness Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods didn’t grow up in this.   Coincidentally, recent studies are showing that obesity is a growing concern among kids.  They are not active enough.  Duh.

Back in the islands, we made our own toy cars and trucks.  We blew bubbles using our breaths, even though I was asthmatic, I was right in there with the best of them.  We played sports and yelled and celebrated when we scored or won a game.  No kid was traumatized by losing.  We knew our limitations so it didn’t bother us  that we weren’t the best player.   We kept playing.  Our teachers marked us ‘fail’ or ‘pass’ and nothing we did after the fact could change that mark.  Now look at me now.  Ok, maybe I’m not exactly a good example so don’t look but yeah, you get my drift.

(Do you know that they now have an app that blows bubbles for you?).

Our kids today are pampered, spoiled, coddled and over-protected.  I fear that they are ill-prepared to deal with the real world that awaits them when the bubble bursts.  But what do I know? It’s just my take.

Related articles

• Really Big Bubbles – I Mean Really Big! (francineclouden.typepad.com)
• Why innovation flourishes in a bubble (cbsnews.com)
• Our Schools

Heading for the hills come Doomsday? You won’t be alone.

I like this!

Click on this blog if you believe in the Doomsday crap madness that is gripping the world.  Oh never mind, you have already clicked on it.   Gullible much?  At least you are not alone in this regard.  There is a mountain in France called Pic De Bugarach where many believe that on December 12th, which is the predicted date of Doomsday, aliens will be doing a pickup there. Just like cabs at an airport.  They are going to be beamed up but not by Scotty and there won’t be any other signs of life down here.  So far 20,000 plus people have gathered there maybe to get front row seats.  (You’d better start packing).

Who comes up with this rubbish?  And why do people fall for this sort of transparent insanity?  Read some of the related articles for yourself and see what a crazy place we call home.  Madness lurks among us.

Now stop reading blogs and go get your stuff all ready to go.  Your friends are waiting.

Beam me up, Scotty.  There REALLY is no intelligent life down here.

Related articles

• Thousands Flock To France To Prepare For Doomsday, Waiting For Spaceship (inquisitr.com)
• 2012 Doomsday? (thayerharrison.wordpress.com)
• “A rapidly increasing stream of New Age believers – or esoterics, as locals call them – have descended…” (althouse.blogspot.com)
• Hippies head for Noah’s Ark: Queue here for rescue aboard alien spaceship (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• New Apocalypse Survival Strategy: Aliens Inside A Mountain (webpronews.com)
• Escape to Newage Mountain (theness.com)
• ALIEN SALVATION or YOU JUST CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! (maboulette.wordpress.com)
• Aliens to Save Believers From Doomsday (weeklyworldnews.com)