2:54 p.m. - 2006-11-16
thoughts for the day
November 16, 2006
Good Afternoon:
This morning I talked to my SIL's daughter, who is in the medical field. She has gone to be with her mother this weekend and filled me in on the latest.
My SIL does have Huntington's Disease but she also has ALS (Lou Gerhrig's Disease) which is in the advanced stages. Her neurologist said she may have 4-6 months but the doctor doesn't believe she will live that long. (You may remember, my SIL said she thinks once she sees and talks with her children, she may pass by Christmas).
The other children are flying in today and tomorrow. My SIL wants to be home and they are going to bring her home today, if possible. My niece said they intend to make this the party she wants and make it the best weekend they can for their mother.
I found the following prayer written by a victim of ALS...
To My Loved Ones and Dear Friends:
Don't grieve for me, for I will be free
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I will take His hand when I hear Him call;
I must turn my back and leave it all.
I can not stay another day.
To laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way;
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss;
Ah yes, these things, I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life has been full, I savored much;
Good friends, good times,
A loved one's touch.
And the laughter of the children
I have known.
Perhaps my times here seems all to brief;
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wants me now,
He will set me free.
---Author Unknown---
*********
And then I found the following in an e-mail I received from a health network....
*****
Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone, stop every motor and halt all activity for an hour some day to give people a chance to ponder for a few minutes on what it is all about, why they are living, and what they really want.
-James Truslow Adams
and this was also on the health network e-mail.......
Helen Caldicott, an Australian pediatrician:
I believe that women have the fate of the Earth in the palm of their hands. Some 53 per cent of us are women and we really are pretty wimpish. We don't step up to the plate - and it's time we took over. I think men have had their turn and we're in a profound mess.
I believe that money is the root of all evil. When people start believing that materialism will produce ultimate, lasting happiness, it is a sure sign that they will be intensely unhappy.
One third of Americans are on anti-depressants. Instead, what they should be doing is lifting their souls, not their faces.
I believe in the sanctity of nature. I believe we can save the planet. We are smart enough to do that, but we must act with a sense of dire emergency.
I believe that the media are controlling and determining the face of the Earth. As Thomas Jefferson said, an informed democracy will behave in a responsible fashion.
I believe in the beauty of classical music. I must have it; it feeds my soul.
I believe in the goodness in every person's soul even though it's sometimes hard to see.
I treat a lot of patients where either their children are dying or they are dying. Even though sometimes it's heavily obscured, in extremes this goodness will emerge.
I don't believe in a god. I have helped many people to die and believe that it's ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
I believe that heaven and hell are present every day.
I believe that life is an absolute gift to be treasured accordingly. We are very privileged to even have been conceived.
I believe that we are here to serve. We are not here to make ourselves happy, to be self-indulgent or to be hedonistic. The happiest state that I achieve is when I work in my clinic helping my children with cystic fibrosis to face death and help to treat them and look after their siblings. I'm utterly exhausted at the end of the day, but deeply, deeply fulfilled.
I believe in the beauty of my garden. I've got two and a half acres and I'm never more in touch with the power of the universe than when I'm in my garden on a warm, sunny day tending to my flowers and my trees, with the pelicans circling overhead.
I believe that there are far too many people on the planet. In the year 1900 there were one billion of us in the world. Now there are 6.5 billion and the predictions are that within a few decades there will be 14 billion.
I believe that the greatest terror in the world is not a few terrorists hitting the World Trade Center. It's the fact that half the world's people still live in dire poverty and 30,000 to 40,000 children die every day from malnutrition and starvation, while the rich nations continue to get richer and richer.
I believe that the most important job in the world is parenting. Women need to be financially supported for it. Their job is far more important than that of chief executive officers at the head of huge corporations.
I believe the secret of happiness is a) serving our fellow human beings and loving and caring for everyone. I don't mean crappy Californian love; I mean really deep caring for each other; b) to understand our own psychology in a profound way, so we can be a more constructive human being; and c) to care for this incredible planet of ours.
Credo
I read that this person is considered a female Buddha and is very spiritual.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if our country and even more so, the entire world, could believe in this and there could be peace and happiness for everyone?
