Written by Ze in his blog
It's been an eventful week: exasperating, sad, and funny.
Watching Elsa struggle to recover from surgery is exasperating. The strength and presence of mind it takes to overcome the pain, the drain and the tortuous onslaught of nausea, leaves anyone drained and realizing that one should really not make a fuss over the little mishaps of everyday life. Particularly disheartening are the moments of hopefulness, when she is feeling a little better, interspersed with the inevitable set back, when she is ravaged by an onslaught of nausea or pain. The only consolation is that it does get a little better every coming day.
Sadly, this past week, or so, saw the passing away of several cultural icons, beginning with Ed McMahon, then on an emotionally packed Thursday, a courageous Farrah Fawcett, whose battle with cancer was well known, passed away, followed by the news that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, had also passed away.
Sad as the news were, I cannot help but notice that in one case, Farrah, there was no choice involved. Cancer comes for many reasons, some certainly aided by choice, such as cigarette smoking, but mostly due to unknown reasons, that no one can predict or prevent. In the case of Michael Jackson, however, it leaves me wondering what role the many plastic surgeries and other weird and unnecessary medical interventions and the abuse of prescription drugs, all things that were preventable, had on his eventual demise. Regardless, the impact Michael Jackson had on popular culture far outweighs the many detractors that, in the last few years, made him a far from exemplary figure. At the end of the day, not many people will live to be fifty and leave behind such an influential body of work, and for that I will miss the man.
But there was also some very funny stuff. In Nevada, Republican Senator John Ensign started things off by admitting to an extramarital affair and apologized, thus making things alright in the minds of the family values crowd. So easy. Later in the week, the Republican governor of South Carolina bested him by adding dereliction of duty to his extramarital affair, and then apologized, thus making things alright in the minds of the family values party.
It leaves me wondering if shenanigans is not the new righteousness.
2 comments:
Political shenanigans in both parties, Democrat and Republican, is exactly why I don't trust government. I want my decisions, my medical care, what car I drive, how I live my life, to remain with me. Since TEd Kennedy, Barney Frank, Bill CLinton, John Edwards, Foley, the SC gov, and countless other elected officials made a shambles out of their own lives, I certainly don't want them making decisions that can make a shambles out of mine. I remain Libertarian in that regard and now that I have such a rare cancer, I want more than ever, to have the government keep their medicaid and medicare, and leave my medical decisions to me and my Oncologists and not to a government beaurocracy. Any medical plan my Congress person writes but won't use themselves, is not what is best for me. Lots of these guys apologize for their transgressions. Few mean it. The real change in Washington will begin when we actually start holding these guys, whether Dem or Rep, up to higher standards. Character counts.
Love to you all. Keep up the blogging!
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