Learning aboard the schoolbus

Grandma and the school kids -- what a heartwarming story.

Read Kids learn kindness from Grandma in the window

Companions

Beyond silver hair and walking canes

Here's a light-hearted take on commitment and day-to-day self-giving. I love it -- eyebags and all!

When one lets the dark get the best of him

You've gotta have hope. Without hope life is meaningless.
Without hope life is meaning less and less.
-- Author Unknown

Well, it seems clear what the person below lacks, among some other things.

He probably should also check out The Foundation for A Better Life more often.

Kevorkian: “The Single Worst Moment of my Life … Was the Moment I Was Born”

By James Tillman and John Jalsevac

June 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- "The single worst moment of my life . . . was the moment I was born." So says Dr. Jack Kevorkian in a recent interview with CNN.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the journalist conducting the interview, confessed that the remark left him speechless – especially since Kevorkian offered the strange and macabre confession without any provocation or lead-up question.

Gupta writes that, “Throughout the two-and-a-half hour interview, [Kevorkian] fluctuated wildly between being downright combative and hostile to being sweet and fatherly.”

The journalist also mentioned Kevorkian’s “crazed rants,” “often about the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution, complete with a defense of James Madison and trashing of Thomas Jefferson.”

The interview is part of the lead-up to Kevorkian’s Thursday interview at 9 PM EST on Larry King Live.

Kevorkian or "Dr. Death" has helped approximately 130 people kill themselves. He also spent 8 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk, who was in the final stages of Amytrophic Lateral Scelerosis at the time of his death. Kevorkian had given Youk the lethal injection himself, and, in a videotape of Youk's death, dared authorities to try to convict him.

Kevorkian told Gupta that he believes his case should have been heard by the Supreme Court, because the issue of assisted suicide is a constitutional issue. Everyone, says Kevorkian, should have the right to kill him or her self.

"They just don't get it in Oregon, " he says. "Or in Washington state or Montana, the other states," where assisted suicide is currently legal. Assisted suicide is only legal in these states if someone has a terminal illness.

"What difference does it make if someone is terminal?" he says. "We are all terminal."

Five of Kevorkian's victims were found to be healthy after autopsies were performed.

Full article at LifeSiteNews

Being child-like...

...is something to be cherished. But I wouldn't want to be any of these children. "Because I want to" seems to be the driving force behind the actions of some parents -- particularly those involved in these incidents. I can't read minds, which is why I have trouble seeing anything noble in the intentions behind what they have done.

Came across these stories at Feminine Genius. The book "Are you my mother?" is a great take-off point so I put my own version of the P.D. Eastman children's book, which a Google search yielded.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Motherless by decree
I don't think P.D. Eastman imagined in her wildest dreams what this question could dredge up legally, ethically, and medically within fifty years of the publication of her classic children's book.

[An] unmarried man, Roberto d.B, had made arrangements with an unmarried woman friend to have her eggs donated to him for the purpose of being fertilized in vitro (outside her womb). (It is unclear whether the eggs were fertilized by his sperm.) And he had made arrangements with a second woman (the "gestational carrier" or "surrogate mother") to have her carry the embryos to term. (Although the decision states she had family responsibilities, it does not state whether she was married or had sexual relations with any man during the relevant time; if she were married, there would have been an issue about whether her husband was the father of the twins.) When the second woman delivered the fraternal twins in 2001, the hospital reported her as the mother. The man sued to have her name removed and his name listed as sole parent, the father. They both argued that she had no genetic link to the children and never intended to be their mother. The trial court agreed to add his name as father, but to retain her name as mother. An appeal was taken.

So legally, now, these are two six-year-olds with no mother, birth certificates with blank spaces, and a psychological nightmare that only God can heal.

It is clear that the court implicitly held that, although the twins were delivered from the womb of this woman, she was not their mother. There can be only two reasons for so holding. One is that she did not intend to be their mother, but the court expressly states that her intent is not a factor in establishing or not establishing parentage -- any more than it is for men. The alternative justification for this implicit holding is that she was not genetically linked to the children and therefore could not be their mother.

Aint this grand. The deconstruction of gender and consequent restructuring of family and rights allow these two children to be hatched at the whim of a man with a mission to use his seed to stick it to the system.

Read the rest of Motherless by decree at Feminine Genius

Music & play

Two news reports I got from MercatorNet's weekly newsletter Family Edge:

CLASSICAL HITS 'HELP' TEENS WITH HOMEWORK

Teenagers who insist that listening to music helps them study are at least beginning to show good taste. New radio listening figures in the United Kingdom show that nearly half a million under 15-year-olds tune in each week to the Classic FM station -- reflecting growth of 100,000 a year in recent years. The surge was initially fuelled by interest in sound tracks from films like Harry Potter and Star Wars, but word of mouth seems to have taken over.

"These figures prove that today's iPod generation is increasingly turned on by classical music," said Classic FM's managing director, Darren Henley. "Mozart and Beethoven remain as relevant today as they were in their own lifetimes." Peak time for young listeners is between 7pm and 9pm -- when they use the music to "chill out and relax" while doing homework -- and the station has been targeting them with their own request shows. "More than 70 per cent of the requests we get are from students taking exams and tests," says Mr Henley. How well they do is another question. ~ London Telegraph, May 12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AGEING GERMANY BUILDS PLAYGROUND FOR SENIORS

Ageing Germany is not going to be allowed to sit back and worry about the dearth of children. The country's first playground for seniors has been opened in Berlin, inspired by public exercises seen in China. The equipment in Preussen Park is designed for people at least 1.5 metres tall, and children can only use it with adult supervision. Simple gym equipment made of stainless steel is laid out on a layer of bark under a canopy of trees. The gear includes a flexibility machine, a leg trainer and a back-massage machine. Total cost 20,000 euros -- one quarter of the cost of a children's playground. ~ Der Spiegel, May 9

Carrying on nicely at 106

I looked for a photo of Mr. Zamuco but there don't seem to be any on the internet. Anyway, this is quite an inspiring read. It reminds me of my late grandfather who also spent decades at the UP Los Baños.


Oldest living Pinoy is a retired UP college dean

By RUDY A. FERNANDEZ
The Philippine Star

On May 9, Gregorio Torio Zamuco will turn 106 years old.

This makes him (as of this writing) the oldest living Filipino, a month and 26 days older than Maria Torres Vicente, who was featured in The STAR’s Jan. 1 issue. (Or is there anyone out there who is more than 106 years old?)

Interestingly, both Zamuco and Vicente hail from Pangasinan: Zamuco, a son of Aguilar town, and Apong Maria, who was born in Urdaneta City on July 3, 1901.

The STAR learned about Zamuco’s age from a friend who is now writing a book titled "Centennial Review: 100 Great Moments in UPLB’s History." (UPLB stands for University of the Philippines Los Baños).

Dr. Fernando Bernardo, who retired a few years ago as deputy director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has been devoting his time writing books covering important facets of Philippine history as well as the arts, including poetry and painting.

Bernardo, also a former UPLB College of Agriculture dean, expects to finish writing his latest book — on UPLB — this year.

For his new project, he interviewed Zamuco, among other UPLB old hands.

One interesting vignette in the life of Zamuco, who spent the last phase of his professional life as dean (1958-1966) of the UPLB College of Forestry, was about his arrest during the Japanese occupation of Los Baños in World War II.

As he narrated to Bernardo: "I was arrested by the Japanese soldiers but was later saved by my 10-year-old son. One morning while a Japanese officer was passing by our house, he heard someone playing a Japanese patriotic tune on our piano. The Japanese officer went up our house to see who was playing the piano, and was amazed to see my 10-year-old son, Jaime, on the piano. When the Japanese officer learned that Jaime’s father was arrested on suspicion of being a guerrilla, he ordered my immediate release."

Full story here

The test of a civilization

"Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members."

- Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), American author, 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature

In New York, in Tokyo

Here are two news articles I picked up this morning -- the first one courtesy of Generations for Life, the next one from today's paper over breakfast.

Leap in time sublime; NYC subway hero deflects praise

By Cara Buckley
New York Times News Service
Published January 3, 2007

NEW YORK -- It was every subway rider's nightmare, times two.

Who has ridden along New York's 656 miles of subway lines and not wondered: "What if I fell to the tracks as a train came in? What would I do?"

And who has not thought: "What if someone else fell? Would I jump to the rescue?"

Wesley Autrey, 50-year-old construction worker, faced both those questions in an instant Tuesday, and got his answers almost as quickly.

Autrey was waiting for the local at 137th Street and Broadway in upper Manhattan around midday. He was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before heading to work.

Nearby, Cameron Hollopeter collapsed, his body convulsing. Autrey and two women rushed to help. Hollopeter, 20, managed to get up but then stumbled a few steps to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, between the two rails.

The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared.

"I had to make a split[-second] decision," Autrey said.

So he made one, and leaped.

Autrey lay on Hollopeter, pressing him down, his heart pounding. The train's brakes screeched, but it couldn't stop.

Full story at Chicago Tribune

* * * * *

Graying Japan opens doors to RP nurses, caregivers

The Philippine Star 01/04/2007

TOKYO (AFP) – Ask wheelchair-bound 81-year-old Hisae Kajiwara about the new workers at her nursing home and a smile comes to her face.

"They are really cheerful and make the atmosphere here very bright," she says.

Another woman, 79-year-old Mitsu Sekiguchi, also confined to a wheelchair, chimes in: "And they always make the beds just perfectly."

Normally, the arrival of new nurses at the care facility in Tokyo’s western fringes would be a mere question of personnel. But this time, it represents a fresh step for Japan.

Maria Falqueza, 25, and Olivia Pineda, 30, are among the first Filipinas at nursing facilities in Japan, which has signed a free-trade agreement with the Philippines that broke precedent by allowing workers to come in.

A handful of care support facilities have accepted 15 Filipinos including Falqueza and Pineda as trainees to brace for the full-fledged entry of Filipino nurses to Japan.

After intense negotiations, then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Arroyo signed a deal in September for Japan to accept up to 1,000 care workers and nurses from the Philippines in two years.

Full story at The Philippine Star

From an 'old fogey'

There's a saying that goes somewhat like "Never underestimate what you can learn at the feet of an old person." How true, but it's one of those things that we can easily forget. Fortunately, pieces like one I stumbled on are there to remind us -- if we pay attention. An excerpt from "Coffin-dodgers relish life's absurdities":

As with so much contemporary legislation, the law is only seeking to fill a gap left by the vacuum in custom and manners. When we see a warning notice at a toll booth, a check-in desk, or even on a bus, saying that employees are entitled to carry out their work without being threatened by violence or verbal abuse; or when there is a sign at a post office informing customers that they must switch off their mobile telephones while speaking to the person serving them – this is the law is trying to teach manners and respect.

We should not have to be told that it is rude to conduct a phone conversation while dealing with the person behind a counter; or that it is unacceptable to swear or verbally abuse a bus driver or someone otherwise serving the public. But where manners and custom fail, the law now tries to step in. Yet the law is often blunt, and impersonal, and works with a sledgehammer effect, so that all are subjected equally, when a fine discrimination is sometimes judicious.

In the matter of age and ageing, what many older people appreciate is a sense of acknowledgement that they have lived a little, and in that living have often garnered interesting and helpful experience. They do not want to be dismissed, just because they are less attuned to a more raucous age of instant data, or because their physical powers or appearance aren't quite what they used to be.

It is nice when younger people are kind and show some respect – and many younger people can be kind and even respectful: in America, younger folk have a gratifying attitude towards seniors who have "paid their dues" and have thus earned a certain "entitlement" to be heard. It is pleasant not to be patronised and regarded as a dithering old biddy. Such social adjustments might be positive outcomes of anti-ageist attitudes.

Full article at Telegraph.co.uk