Woke up. Found myself in an odd position in my Granny's bed. Very soon, i found myself making my way to Boon Lay for Cell Group. I read my regular dose of Sunday Times and found interesting news to blog on.
Death.
What an interesting and intriguing topic!
It seems i've foudn 2 sections in Lifestyle about death. One of it mentions about blogs under the read section. There it lists 3 blogs of the bloggers feeling about illnesses and death. I think it'll be nice to read them when i'm free. I've posted Grace Chow's blog before in my blog which shows quite a detailed account of some of her last days and weeks on Earth. Though fustrated and worried about her uncurable sickness [ chordoma - rare tumour ], you can see she is a fighter and not an ostrich. Their words can be disturbing but very insightful.
The wisest words are often from the ones leaving this world. Ain't it?
Their blogs.
Dorothy , No Bra Required, Tumour Diary, Dying is
Maybe i'll consider puting some of them in my links.
On the other section under reflect which i read very often, Alan John post his view about A dignified Exit.
The widely debated topic about asisted suicide has yet again resurface when the feeding tube, providing nourishment to Terri Schiavo was removed. She was brain dead and the court had sentence the feeding tube to be remove just as her husband pleaded in her case. Many questions about this act are raised. Then comes this sudden question which struck my mind. Would you want your feeding tube/ life support/ medication to be cut from you if you find yourself brain dead? Some might say yes to end the suffering of oneself and his/her loved ones. Some might choose to believe in hope. Probably there is a formulae for this. The decision for them in this would be directly proportional to their desire to live plus their hope/desire for a miracle. For me the answer is pretty simple. If i finish what i have to do and if there is no real business, i would choose to go. [But choi choi choi, pray that nothing will happen to me ^^ ha].
Cell group is great. I feel a different experience this time during worship. God's presence was so tangible. I felt myself swirling. Really nice experience :) .The message was also good. It answers some of the questions running in my head through the week. I learn of my position as a believer in Christ.
I also read through Chong's blog and i am really happy for him. Most of his experiences, i would say i have been through before. He's grown alot and is very passionate and hungry for the Lord. Here's his tribute . Just wanna say i am proud of you Chong. Keep up!!
Gee that's all i should blog. Needa pack my room and do serious work :P
4 comments:
Another way to view death: the necessary stage for the creation of life. in nature, the death of a plant or animal means the food for another to survive or, when decomposed, becomes the nutrients for the crowth of plants. This is the cycle of life, of Nature. They die so that we could live.
To delay death via medication, prevention of diseases and sickness are, in a way, disrupting the process of balance in Nature while survival of the fittest is the most convinient way Nature does its work.
It is essential for the world to be in an equilibrium. When there is a particular species which the survival rate has outrageously out grown other races, here to be specific, human, there are bound to be problems of food and living space. More over, due to human's attempt to urbanize, many animals' habitats are lost forever.
Natural disasters such as flood, drought and epidemics down to diseases, body failure due to old age are ways that Nature does its work yet human has managed to defy them successfully to a large extent.
Desperate situation require drastic measures. May be there is a good reason why the tsunamis and earthquakes went through, or lack of, human's technology to detect them knocking on the door.
Terri Schiavo is dead. Sweet merciful death. What for wasting precious resources and money on someone who cannot contributed to the society. Well, may be except boosting the sales of newspapers, better viewership of television news, attracted more listeners to radios, more clicks on websites and finally, the lawyer who get big money indirectly thanks to her.
Haha intresting =) Patrick, i know u r very knowledgeble and awared of the things ahead of u..But gonna watch yur tone.. ha..=)
In the same way, Jesus died so that we could live.
Do you believe in medication delaying death? Pope John Paul 2 had the best medication anyone could have, but death came all the same. What then, is the purpose of medication? When you have a cough, do you drink cough syrup? or do you just ignore it and let your body heal it naturally. If you do the latter, you'll probably find that you aren't going to die of your cough, but your cough will persist for weeks and weeks. Why not just eat cough syrup for 1 week and get shoo the cough out of your life? At our current state of technology, we cannot "delay" death. Struggle with death, yes. Medication is there to alleviate our pain and help in our struggle with death. that is all.
And the situation may not be the survival of the fittest after all. I call it the survival of the smartest. Smart monkeys knew how to use penecillin as an antibiotic when they were sick. Stupid ones, who may be fitter than the smart ones, may die because they don't have that bit of knowledge.
Sweeping statements about nature vs human need to be reconsidered.
Lastly, is the worth of a human based on how they can contribute to society? If that is so, all old people, handicapped people, people in a vegetative state, and people in a coma, should be exterminated from the face of the earth. In another light, your parents are the whole world to you not because they contribute to society, but because you love them. What about those people who have a negative contribution to society? As far as I know, the Mafia still is still active and kicking.
interesting viewpoints. :)
For my own set of views, death is an experience. Many of us see death as an eventual outcome since the fall of man. Or in a more absolute sense, part of the route of life. It comes to and end just like the end of the chapter of a tape. When some might often say that all of one's life flashes just at the brink of lifelessness.
Just like life, death has its own sets of lessons and inspirations. That is if people around can see the lessons it brings. And the above 2 blogs i've pasted : "Tumour Diary and Dying is" aren't just to keep up the buzz. They have real-life accounts of how the victims suffered, and how the people around are affected. Surely in this world there could be worst cases. But it just goes to show that life we are experiencing is nothing compared to theirs. The relevance of death is not really crucial [ since its certain and sure] The lessons it bring on the other hand can be a treasure to those who perceive it wisely.
Like you said kcirtap, its quite true that death is essential for life [ from the supporting points you give]. Its the nature's way of balancing itself. In fact it rings very true in the Christian context. Jesus died for us to live. His death breeds life .. that is everlasting to those who accepts it.I might guess you could have draw reference about Evolution/survival of fittest/and the nature's equilibrium model from the Bio Textbook. It is as what you have said.
I can understand from your words n tone that you have a negative perception of humans. As your have stated, humans activities are not very "kind" towards mother nature. Furthermore our overpopulation is giving both this planet and us a momentous of problems. However, to say death as a dependable way of solving this problem and balancing the scale is pretty ridiculous. Depending on natural disasters, sickness and ailments to "help" solve the problem and indirectly create life is equivalent to pushing a wall [ as we learn in physics ! no work done^^]. Thx for your commments about this part but you have to realise that saying death is essential is one thing. Supporting the need to kill [as to balance and bring life] is pretty upsetting to many people.
Its also hard to say that the death Miss Terri suffered is "sweet merciful". Basically i am not sure if a person can experience emotions if her brain is dead. How can the impulses be translated to generate hormones and chemicals which helps the person feel what's happening around her? This buzz is also not totally about making news, making the media/or associated lawyer rich. Its just another set of lessons which we can choose to learn or not.
To sum things up, just like turtle said a person's worth cannot be so hastily decided. Those who plainly assumes are just complacent and aren't giving the full thought to the matter. It's not up to humans to judge by any sense. If you can judge so wisely, i can say the world will be a MUCH MUCH better place than what it is now. Just food for thought ..
Thx for all your comments :) Keep this topic alive!
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