The headline follows: No One Should Have The Right To Die Until God Is Done Toying With Them

By Amy FosterIn the publication The Onion

Sometimes I have difficulty with irony or was it sarcasm. Somehow this article just pissed me off! Worse yet I just got another solicitation from Hospice. Mind you WA state is one of the few states that allow “death with dignity.” The following piece was a travesty of that premise, but read it first before making your own comment or opinion.

“Life is a sacred gift from God. He decided that we should be born and, when the time comes, He decides that we should pass on from this world. We should be grateful for whatever precious moments He gives us—and no one, not even the terminally ill, has the right to die until God is done toying with them.”

“It doesn’t matter how sick you are. You don’t get to die until God messes with you for a while first.”… He might want you to struggle with someone else’s death. Maybe more than one person. I mean, this is why God made us to begin with.”

“Who are we to tamper with God’s plan? Who are we to say that our suffering has become too unbearable to go on living when God—who’s just looking for a little amusement—has weeks, months, or even years of agony lined up for us? Seriously, what kind of person ends his life before God’s batted him around a bit? He made us. He deserves a little fun.”   …

I question whether this Bipolar and reclusive deity who has not sent us more instructions since His landmark debut 2,000 years ago deserves a little fun with the offspring he has abandoned. The Bible is old news and so is he. Where are the follow-ups. Seems he has kept to Himself – and I should still give him full reign over my own ending?

Boy, oh boy. This is a major jump from my normal topics.

First of, I am a nurseryman and have raised and butchered animals to feed myself. There is a husbandry need there and I still remember with anguish my putting down some deceased sheep that the dying owner could not bring himself to do.  “He deserves a little fun.” was never in my job equation.

it remains poignant to me. Verle and his wife loved their sheep. I still have most of the fleeces I cut over a decade ago. They are all named according to the daughter it came from. Verle was dying at that time and I was grateful that I could do the job he could no longer do. A few months later he too would leave this world and I was fortunate enough to have a foreseeing of the event. On my way to another job, I knew he needed me. Indeed he was in his last hours and his family was too emotional to help.

I strongly believe we need people trained in helping people pass on. Like birth givers there should be trained people like in Hospice to ease people into the next. Using hypnosis and paths we had walked together on I was able to guide Verle on. Considering the cancer he had fought for so many years, his death was the best I had ever witnessed. (Celtic and ocean music also helped.)

After, I walked the gardens and found no trace of his spirit staying around. I think he ascended totally and that may have been one of my best gardening achievements ever. Later I had to deal with another dear friend who had ALS. I doubted he would make it through the winter.”I only hope I have the courage to stand with this brave man as I did with Verle.” As it turned out he lasted into summer and finally opted for WA’s “Death with Dignity law” and was the second person to use it.

Sarajevo during WW11 which suffered again in the “modern” civilized world there was an inscription on a memorial.

“Here lies the grave. Stay, for a while,
when the forest listens.
Take off your caps! Here rests the flower
of a people that knows how to die.”
Be it cancer, tumors or ALS we should all be aware of the brave flowers surrounding us. To Tina, Mary Ann,  Verle,  and Jim.

HE IS COMING HOME!

Were the words that his wife said to me.A RIVERINE ENDING

After a long and courageous battle with ALS, Jim passed away on June 2. His ashes were being returned to be placed in this urn. This Riverine patio and garden are only one of the many things he would leave behind.

This Thursday’s child has a long way to go on that score. I think Jim would have liked this resting place. Although it is summer this site has become a winter plateau for myself and brings back rich emotional poignancy. Some is painful, as were the last six months — our lives were richly meshed and all that remains are echoing messages. Even the rocks that once proved so tiring are now part of the story. For someday his wife will also be gone and so will the rocks and I will remain.

As for this piece on the ONION, it sucked!

(C) Herb Senft 2014

and the snow will come
and filter over the footsteps left behind.

 who continues to leave some rock offerings with every visit.