Life as an Extreme Sport

Author: Kelly

Late, yet still funny

...and everything else, Philosophy

Death isn’t always sad:

I had an interesting conversation with That Guy the other day about Westboro Baptist; they came up for some reason, and I mentioned the rather excellent idea of full on drag queens, trannies, out and proud gay and lesbian couples, etc, protesting his funeral when Phelps dies. That Guy objected on the principle that it’s just distasteful to protest funerals, it’s not a moral or virtuous action, and playing dirty just because someone else does isn’t a good reason. He thought it would simply be better to throw a party on your own elsewhere- and I admit that he raises good points.

But there is something in intolerance and hatred spewed forth by people like Falwell, Robertson, Phelps, and etc, that makes it hard to be neutral and say a funeral is a funeral, and all should be given respect, all mourners the right to mourn in the way they want. Because sometimes, death isn’t a sad thing – not because it brings relief, but because it removes a really really bad person from society.

Would protesting at Phelps’s funeral make a point? Yes, I think so. Would it get through to his family? I would hope so – but am not optimistic that it would. Could it be done in a way that wasn’t spiteful, mean, and full of hate? Perhaps – but again I’m wary.

The satire Mahr provides is one way at poking the people who deserve to be poked for who they are, but if it would be wrong to protest at a funeral, shouldn’t it be equally wrong to speak ill of the dead? What about, as Mahr points out, when the dead made their living speaking ill of others?

I don’t know. On the one hand, I attempt to live a peaceful and moral/virtuous life. So That Guy raising the possibility of a protest stepping outside those self and religious imposed guidelines certainly brings me up short to think. On the other hand, it feels like a very human response to people who have caused so much pain and suffering. On the gripping hand, however, I wonder if the best thing is indeed to simply offer well-wishes and show how much better a person it’s possible to be.

Then again, it’s not like they raised the bar all that high…

WoBioBlog: A Month Without Plastics

Bioethics, WoBioBlog

Over on the BBC website, reporter Chris Jeavans is blogging about her August challenge: to live a month without buying or accepting anything wrapped in or made with plastic. Why? Because even though we’re all repeatedly implored to reduce, reuse and recycle, plastics are still one of the most common things to make it into our trash, our landfills, and our oceans. So she wanted to track exactly how life would change if she gave up plastics – first, of course, tracking how much plastics she and her family used over the course of one month.

The numbers were surprising…click to continue reading

WoBioBlog: Controversial Infant Heart Transplant Redefines Death

Bioethics, WoBioBlog

Surgeons in Denver are happily announcing a major break-through in infant cardiac transplants: using hearts from infants that have died of cardiac-related deaths. According to the Wall Street Journal,

Until now, it was thought that hearts from those donors were too badly damaged to be transplanted successfully. Only hearts from donors who were brain-dead — and whose hearts were still functioning after they were declared dead — have been considered suitable for transplant.

To make the donors’ hearts more viable, doctors at Children’s Hospital in Denver altered the standards for declaring the patients dead… The Denver researchers narrowed to as little as 75 seconds the time between when the donor was pronounced dead and when the heart was harvested. Current guidelines call for waiting up to five minutes as a way of making certain that the heart does not start beating again on its own. But removing the heart earlier increases the odds of a successful transplant since it limits the damage caused by a lack of oxygen to the organ.

Most professional medical types I know, be they bioethicists, doctors, nurses, etc, agree that there are significant and severe problems with how transplants are handled in this country, and that we need to do something to increase the number of available organs…(continue reading)

Whistles of the Wind

life and living, wisdom and folly

Whistles the wind
Blowin’ my way
Sweepin’ me back, back here to stay
Can winners be losers?
Runnin’ on the same track
While some head for glory, others we crash

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

My isolation
Now there’s a sobering thought
A minute alone, a lifetime too long
See the face in this mirror
So pale it could crack
Desperately wantin’ the color it lacks

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

So you drank with the lost souls
For too many years
Tied to their ankles now crippled with fear
Never been righteous though seldom were wrong
Life’s only life with you in this song

Now there’s an ocean between
Where I am and where I want to be
So you prayers in doubt
Doubt not for me

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong

Well it breaks my heart to see you this way
The beauty in life where’s it gone
And somebody told me you were doin’ okay
But somehow I guess they were wrong
-Flogging Molly


Sigh. Sometimes, not being able to fix things for other people really sucks. And I am not very good, when it matters, of thinking of the right words to say under pressure (even if that pressure is my own).

Which doesn’t mean those in the know should worry – things are still fine. Just, baggage handling issues.

ink trailing in the sea

blog as therapy, life and living

It’s not that I forgot, it’s just that missing you has died down to a steady ache, rather than one sharply punctuated every year. Or maybe it’s that I’ve been talking about you a lot lately, to new people, retelling the stories and the lessons learned – how important it is to never let things go unsaid. And what an amazing impact that’s had on my life, especially lately.

In life, you taught me a lot – fierce stubbornness, how to play. But in your death, you gave me the strength of conviction, of following what’s right even when it’s hard. The final emphasis to live without regret.

I know you would like him, and I know you’d be pleased to know the fruits of your efforts were felt on Friday – an appropriate day, of all days.